Russia confiscated boats, harassed voluntary, hidden Grazessites -Kakhovka -Damm -Explosion examination

The Russian-controlled forces in KHerson Oblast have deliberately made it more difficult for civilians to evacuate the flood zone after the Russian destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023.

According to an examination of the Kyiv Independent, the Russian military disrupted the work of locals that evacuated people from the flooded areas themselves – their boats were confiscated, while the volunteers were threatened and forced to stop efforts.

In return, the local emergency services that worked citing did not have enough resources for evacuation, while the occupation authorities had deliberately hidden the size of the disaster.

As a result of these measures, civilians have died on the occupied Ostbank of Kherson Oblast, which could be saved.

The investigative unit of Kyiv Independent of war crimes recorded fifty testimonies from eyewitnesses, relatives of eyewitnesses and volunteers who remained in the occupied areas during the flood after the explosion of the Kakhovka dam and were involved in the rescue of people.

The certificates laid the basis for the investigative documentary of the Kyiv Independent when the water is screaming that premiere on February 27th.

After the explosion, the water from the Kakhovka reservoir began to flood down the electricity. An immediate evacuation took place on the Ukrainian -controlled part of KHerson Oblast, including the regional capital Kheron, in which several districts were flooded.

However, the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the DNIPRO River was hit hardest.

The witnesses said The Kyiv Independent that they did not hear any announcements about evacuation. Boats that saved rescue services from the Russian -controlled emergency services only appeared a few days after the explosion.

The evacuation of the civilian population fell on the shoulders of the locals, which organized and coordinated the rescue itself via a telegram chat itself. However, Russian soldiers did not allow voluntary, all flooded areas to enter, and confiscated their boats under threats by punishment. The Kyiv Independent identified a man from East Bank who was involved in the rescue campaign and was missing.

Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian -installed head of the occupied part of KHerson Oblast, was responsible for Andrey Alekseenko, the so -called head of the government of the occupied eastern bank, for the emergency reaction. Alekseko is the former mayor of Krasnodar, a Russian city.

At the time of the explosion, Ivan Pavlienko's local emergency services – a Russian general major.

Pavlienko, who had a lot of experience in dealing with emergency situations in Russia, was responsible for the supply services that should deal with the floods.

However, the resources that Russia was provided to combat the catastrophe were insufficient.

In Russia's Ivanovo Oblast, which has almost the same size as the occupied part of the KHerson -Oblast of Ukraine, there were eight times more staff and 18 times more “special equipment”.

A year after the explosion of the Kakhovka dam, the Russian-controlled official balance reported that over 60 people died of the floods.

According to eyewitnesses and volunteers who are involved in the evacuation, hundreds of people may have died at the occupied Ostbank of Kherson Oblast, and the authorities tried to hide the extent of civilian victims.

When the waters climbed, doctors of the Oleshky Polyclinic managed to spend six death certificates that they had issued such documents. The corpses of the dead were then taken away.

The Kyiv Independent recorded five cases in which the relatives of the victims were not informed about the fate of their deceased, and their tombard is still unknown.

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