Ukrhydroenergo takes Russia to court over Kakhovka Dam destruction
Ukraine’s hydropower operator Ukrhydroenergo plans to sue Russia in the International Court of Arbitration for damages from the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station, CEO Ihor Syrota announced June 6.
Read also: Russians show Kakhovka Dam destruction in newly surfaced videos — Russian media
"We recently informed Russia of our intention to turn the International Arbitration Court and file a lawsuit for lost profits and the cost of construction and restoration of the station," Syrota said.
The compensation is estimated preliminarily at approximately $2.5 billion, he said.
Ukrhydroenergo has already filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights against Russia, seeking compensation for the damages caused by Russia's unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine. This legal action covers not only the Kakhovka Dam but also the incomplete wind power plant on Snake Island. The total damages claimed in this lawsuit amount to 17 billion hryvnias ($424 million).
Russian forces' Kakhovka Dam sabotage in the summer of 2023
Russian forces detonated the Kakhovka HPP overnight on June 6, 2023, which they had controlled for over a year. Cities and villages downstream along the Dnipro River were partially or completely flooded, killing over 75 people.
The number of casualties from the dam explosion in the occupied territories remains unknown. According to AP investigations, between 200 and 300 people drowned in the flooded town of Oleshky, Kherson Oblast.
Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russians found over 60 bodies as a result of the flooding following the detonation of the dam and planned to bury them in mass graves without identification.
Read also: Ukraine’s hydroelectric plants damaged in new Russian missile assault
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Dam as the largest man-made environmental catastrophe in Europe in decades.
The Prosecutor General's Office has initiated a pre-trial investigation into the facts of ecocide and violations of laws and customs of war and has filed a referral to the International Criminal Court.
Russians' detonation of the Kakhovka reservoir caused depopulation (aridization) in southern Ukraine to likely intensify, analysts suggest.
Ukraine's Internal Affairs Ministry announced on Sep. 1, 2023, the completion of the main stage of the aftermath mitigation following the Russian detonation of the Kakhovka Dam.
Read also:
Ukrhydroenergo crisis alert: International inaction fuels Ukraine’s energy problems
How Ukraine will cope with electricity shortages this summer — analysis
Interior Ministry states:
180 settlements in Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv oblasts, with a population of nearly 900,000 people, were affected by the disaster
Almost 700,000 Ukrainians were left without access to drinking water
148,000 tons of drinking and technical water, 119,000 tons of food and essentials were delivered
Over two thousand Internal Affairs Ministry employees, 300 units of machinery, and over a hundred watercraft were involved in the aftermath mitigation efforts daily
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
