Tag: Volodymyr Zelensky

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has raised worries of an ecological disaster, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describing the situation as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction.”

Water levels on Wednesday continued to rise after the Russian-occupied dam and hydro-electric power plant was damaged early Tuesday, forcing more than 1,400 people to evacuate their homes and jeopardising essential water supplies as flooding flooded towns, cities and countryside.

Kyiv and Moscow have swapped accusations over the dam’s collapse, without giving tangible proof that the other is involved. It is not yet apparent if the dam was purposefully assaulted or whether the breach was the result of structural failure.

Zelensky, however, said Russia bears “criminal liability” and Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

“The consequences of the tragedy will be clear in a week. When the water goes away, it will become clear what is left and what will happen next,” he said.

Concerns are now turning to the dangers to wildlife, farmlands, settlements and water supplies from the floodwaters and possible contamination from industrial chemicals and oil leaked from the hydropower plant into the Dnipro River.

The head of Ukraine’s main hydropower generating company told CNN the environmental consequences from the breach will be “significant” and damaged equipment at the plant could be leaking oil.

“First of all, the Kakhovka reservoir is likely to be drained to zero, and we understand that the number of fish will gradually go down,” said Ihor Syrota, the CEO of Ukrhydroenergo.

“Four-hundred tons of turbine oil is always there, in the units and in the block transformers that are usually installed on this equipment,” Syrota said. “It all depends on the level of destruction of the units and this equipment… If the damage is extensive, then all the oil will leak out.”

Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said at least 150 metric tons of oil from the dam have leaked into the Dnipro and the environmental damage had been estimated at 50 million euros ($53.8 million), according to Reuters.

Strilets said downstream wildlife species found nowhere else in the world were in jeopardy, including the sandy blind mole-rat. Ukraine’s Black Sea Biosphere Reserve and two national parks were also likely to be heavily damaged, he added, Reuters reported.

The flooding has already killed 300 animals at the Nova Kakhovka zoo, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday the dam collapse was an “ecological catastrophe” with the destruction of newly planted crops and massive flooding “another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Before its collapse, the critical Nova Kakhovka dam was the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume.

It’s the last of the cascade of six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine, and supplied water for much of southeastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

There are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

Speaking to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said its collapse is possibly the “most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure” since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The dam, Griffiths said, is a lifeline in the region, being a critical water source for millions of people in Kherson as well as the Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, and a key source of agricultural irrigation in southern Kherson and the Crimean peninsula – impacting farming and food production.

Severe impact is also expected in Russian-occupied areas where humanitarian agencies are still struggling to gain access, he added.

“The damage caused by the dam’s destruction means that life will become intolerably harder for those already suffering from the conflict,” Griffiths said.

Between 35 and 80 settlements were expected to be flooded due to the breach, Zelensky said, and aid efforts are ongoing to get drinking water, hygiene kits and other supplies to affected neighborhoods.

In the low lying districts of Kherson, a CNN team on the ground saw residents evacuated from their homes carrying their possessions and pets in their arms as rising floodwaters penetrated one city block in less than an hour.

As the area is on the front lines of the conflict, the rising water brought with it an added danger of mine and explosive ordnance contamination.

“This is both a water element and a mine hazard, because mines float here and this area is constantly under fire,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson’s regional military administration, who has been overseeing rescue efforts.

Griffiths said projectiles like mines risk being displaced to areas previously assessed as safe.

Mohammad Heidarzadeh, senior lecturer in the department of architecture and civil engineering at the University of Bath in England, said the Kakhovka reservoir is one of the largest dams in the world in terms of capacity.

“It is obvious that the failure of this dam will definitely have extensive long-term ecological and environmental negative consequences not only for Ukraine but for neighboring countries and regions,” Heidarzadeh told Science Media Centre on Tuesday, adding the facility was an “embankment” dam, which means it was made of gravel and rock with a clay core in the middle.

“These types of dams are extremely vulnerable, and are usually washed away quickly in case of a partial breach… a partial damage is sufficient to cause a complete collapse of the dam because water flow can easily wash away the soil materials of the dam body in just a few hours,” he added.

Both Moscow and Kyiv noted the humanitarian and environmental consequences, while blaming each other for the dam’s destruction.

The Russian-appointed acting governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the collapse of the dam led to “a large, but not critical” amount of water flowing down the Dnipro which resulted in the washout of agricultural fields along the coast and disruption of civilian infrastructure.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the dam breach “has caused devastating damage to the farmland in the region and the ecosystem at the mouth of the Dnieper river.”

“The inevitable drop in the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir will affect Crimea’s water supply and will hinder the improvement of agricultural land in the Kherson region,” it said.

Several Ukrainian regions that receive some of their water supply from the reservoir of the Nova Kakhovka dam are making efforts to conserve water.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, where about 70% of the city of Kryvyi Rih was supplied by the reservoir, Ukrainian authorities have asked people to “stock technical water and drinking water” and businesses to limit consumption and banned the use of hoses.

The reservoir also supplies water to the upstream Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk” at the plant, water from the reservoir is used to cool its reactors and emergency diesel generators.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the UN nuclear watchdog’s staff on site have been told the reservoir is draining at 5 centimeters (2 inches) an hour and it is “estimated” that water used for the mainline of cooling “should last for a few days.”

However, should the reservoir drop below the pumping level there “are a number of alternative sources of water,” Grossi said, with the main one being the “large cooling pond next to the site.”

“It is estimated this pond will be sufficient to provide water for cooling for some months,” he added.0275019147

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has called on Russia to account for tens of thousands of “crimes of aggression.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest order for Russian President Vladimir Putin, received an unexpected visit from the leader of Ukraine.

President Zelensky said in a speech that Russia committed 6,139 war crimes in April alone, killing 207 civilians in Ukraine, including 11 children.

He also called for the creation of a war crimes tribunal that could see Putin himself forced to explain atrocities carried out at the hands of the Kremlin.

‘We all want to see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law’, President Zelensky continued.

He added that war would eventually be won by ‘force of arms’ and thanked the Netherlands for weapons supplied to Ukraine so far.

In his speech, President Zelensky also paid tribute to the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down in Russian forces in 2014.

There had been 196 Dutch nationals on the flight.

A minute of silence was then held for all those who have died as a result of Russian ‘terror’.

Dressed in his standard khaki-coloured jumper, President Zelensky said: ‘We cannot stop wars of aggression, but can defeat aggression as a criminal idea that originates in the mindset of someone who is used to impunity.

‘If you look at any war of aggression, they all have one thing in common – the perpetrator of the war did not believe they would have to stand to answer for what they did.’

His visit to The Hague, which hosts the ICC and the United Nations’ top judicial organ, the International Court of Justice, came a day after he denied that Ukrainian forces were responsible for what the Kremlin called an attempt to assassinate Putin in a drone attack.

On a visit to Helsinki on Wednesday, Zelensky told reporters: ‘We didn’t attack Putin. We leave it to (the) tribunal.’

While the leader’s visit to the ICC was not officially confirmed, the court’s staff on Thursday raised a Ukrainian flag next to its own flag outside the building.

Judges announced last month announced they found ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights were responsible for the unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

Prosecutor Karim Khan has made repeated visits to Ukraine and is setting up an office in Kyiv to facilitate his ongoing investigations in the country.

The Netherlands has been a strong supporter of the Ukrainian war effort since Russia’s invasion last year.

Among military equipment Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government has promised are 14 modern Leopard 2 tanks it is buying together with Denmark.

They are expected to be delivered next year.

Among other military hardware, it also sent two Patriot air defense missile systems and promised two naval minehunter ships as well as sending military forensic experts to assist war crime investigations.

The situation on Ukraine’s eastern front lines is getting tough, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Ukrainian troops are facing a very difficult situation in three heavily contested towns in Donetsk – Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Lyman – Mr Zelensky said.

The UK’s defence ministry said Ukrainian soldiers are becoming isolated in embattled Bakhmut.

The head of Russia’s notorious Wagner group said there are fierce battles for every street in some areas of the town.

Russian forces have been attempting to seize control of Bakhmut for months – making it the longest battle since Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago.

Taking the area is important to Russia in furthering its aim of controlling the whole of the Donbas region in the country’s east. It would also signify a turnaround in Russia’s fortunes after it lost ground in Ukraine during recent months.

Source: BBC

It’s been a political reshuffle with a difference.

At the time of typing this, 11 officials have either resigned or been sacked as Kyiv tries to tackle government corruption.

It’s led to some politicians in the US calling for aid to Ukraine to be restricted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to quickly restore public faith, but the allegations are serious, and the timing is bad.

Several claims have surfaced thanks to Mykhaylo Tkach, an investigative journalist for the news website Ukrayinska Pravda.

He has recently reported that the company of a senior official’s personal trainer allegedly received millions of pounds since the full-scale invasion, as well as a story about President Zelensky’s deputy head of office.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko quit two months after Tkach reported that he’d moved his family to the mansion of a well-known property developer.

The journalist also published footage which appeared to show the official driving an expensive Porsche for a few months.

Mr Tymoshenko has denied doing anything wrong.

“Quite often, with MPs and officials, if the source of their money isn’t clear, they register assets to people close to them,” explains Tkach.

“These are signs of non-transparency, at a time when every step of an official should be clear for society.”

The reporter concedes corruption exists in many countries. It’s why he thinks the reaction to it is most important.

From her bakery in Vorzel, near Kyiv, Ivanna is less than impressed with her government being accused of paying inflated prices to an unknown firm, a minister allegedly accepting a bribe worth £300,000 ($372,000), and an official’s expensive taste in cars.

“I don’t like it,” she says, while her husband Vyacheslav stirs dough in the back room.

“It would be better for this money to go towards something good for Ukraine.”

She pauses: “We need to replace all those politicians who’ve been there for many years. They’ve got used to it; it feeds them.”

For Ukraine, receiving billions of dollars in military, humanitarian and financial aid brings responsibility and scrutiny.

It also increases the likelihood of money ending up in the wrong hands.

“We are talking about Ukraine’s existence,” says Tkach. “It’s not just some ordinary year for our country. So, I think this wave of resignations, initiated by the president, is an important acknowledgement and necessary action.”

Ever since Ukraine declared independence 31 years ago, corruption has plagued its public services and most of all its politics.

In 2014, a popular revolution toppled the last Moscow-leaning government because people wanted to finally live under a democracy.

Ever since, Ukraine has attempted a series of reforms, notably driven by Russia’s subsequent campaign of aggression towards the country. Change was seen as essential to securing the West’s continued support.

New anti-corruption agencies were then set up, along with new systems for government spending, a new police force, and politicians were forced to disclose their wealth – often with eye-watering confessions.

“We wanted results,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn tells me. He’s an MP and deputy head of the parliamentary anticorruption committee.

“Yes, we have some leftovers from corruption in the past, but at least now we are not silent about it. The next stop will be prevention.”

We have some leftovers from corruption in the past, but at least now we are not silent about itYaroslav Yurchyshyn
Ukrainian MP

Mr Yurchyshyn believes there’s no better time to expose ministerial wrongdoing, even with Western help being put at risk.

“Western partners understand we have two wars,” he says. “The first is against Russia, then there’s our internal war for the future of Ukraine.”

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022, Western allies like the European Union and the US weren’t happy with the pace of Kyiv’s efforts to combat corruption.

While it’s not clear what the political damage of the 2023 allegations will be for President Zelensky, his response to them this time has been described as “quick and decisive” by the US.

With more allegations expected to surface, he’ll be hoping other supporters feel the same.

Source: BBC