Russia is using ‘scorched earth tactics’ to destroy Ukraine

Russia is using “scorched-earth tactics” to devastate Ukraine and deal a “blow” to global food security, Kherson’s governor has said, after the destruction of a key dam in the southern region heralded the worst ecological disaster in Europe’s recent history.

Speaking to The Independent, Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces were also heavily shelling Kherson and its evacuation routes, resulting in the hospitalisation of rescue workers, police officers and medics who had raced to help those worst affected by the disaster.

Kyiv accused Moscow of deliberately blowing up the Kakhovka dam last week to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing in the southern Kherson region. The dam, located in the Kherson region, has been under Russian occupation control since the early days of the war, which began in February 2022. Moscow has blamed the destruction of the dam on Ukraine.

“The undermining of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam is the largest manmade disaster in the world in recent decades. Russian occupation forces are using scorched-earth tactics in Ukraine,” the governor said from the regional capital, which is still being hit.

“This emergency provoked a water, environmental, and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions, leaving residents of the flooded settlements without homes and access to drinking water. It also [created] a risk of explosive objects falling into the Dnipro River.”

He said that, so far, nearly 2,500 people had been evacuated from the flooded areas that are under Ukrainian control, including 155 children and more than 50 people with limited mobility. This has been complicated by the fact that Russian troops have continued to shell Kherson from their positions across the Dnipro River.

“This is the deliberate destruction of Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Mr Prokudin added.

Kherson, whose regional capital has a population of around 280,000, was occupied by Russian forces at the start of March 2022, but was liberated by Ukrainian troops in early November. Since then it has been pounded by Russian forces whose positions are located just a few hundred metres away on the other side of the Dnipro River, which cuts the region in half.

Last week the Kakhovka dam exploded, unleashing 18 million tonnes of water over the area – which is partially occupied by Russia – threatening the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.

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On Sunday, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said Russian forces had deliberately blown up the dam to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing, as her country launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive.

“The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was apparently carried out with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian Defence Forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector,” Ms Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

She added that the act, which unleashed a vast flood that inundated towns and villages, trapped residents, and swept away entire houses, was also aimed at helping to enable the deployment of Russian reserves to the areas around Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut further east.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive operations were under way in Ukraine, but gave no further details.

A military spokesperson has said that counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres on a number of sections of the frontline near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

But further south in Kherson, rescue workers struggled to come to the aid of those trapped by the flooding, which will have devastating long-term implications, the region’s governor said.

“Liquid household waste is now leaking into the ground from the cesspools of private houses that are in the flood zone. There is the solution of surface water with fuel and lubricants from the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and the Kherson oil depot, as well as the territory of river and sea ports,” Mr Prokudin explained.

Drinking water supplies have been cut off, houses and farmland destroyed, and fields rendered completely unuseable.

“There is a great threat of desertification of part of the Kherson region due to this disaster,” he continued, adding that the region contains several nature reserves. “We can also see that we are losing certain species of plants and animals, and it will not be possible to replace them at all.”

This will have an impact on the world, the governor said.

“[It] is a blow to global food security, because irrigation canals will not work as they used to, because these hydraulic structures were designed for a certain water content of the Dnipro River,” he added. “We need to assess the consequences, and then we need to conduct global scientific research.”