Life in Kherson after the Kakhovka dam’s collapse

Life for the citizens of war-battered Kherson was never easy. But this week it got a whole lot worse. For the second day, emergency workers and volunteers battled to contain the damage from an unfolding ecological disaster. The partial destruction of the early on June 6th has already led to dozens of settlements in the region being submerged. Rescuers work in dinghies and rafts, under mortar and artillery fire, evacuating the mostly elderly and bewhiskered. Not everyone at risk is willing to leave, thanks to the stubborn pride that has made the Russians’ nine-month occupation of this southern region so calamitous.It is too early to assess the full damage of the dam’s collapse. Yury Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister for infrastructure, suggested on June 7th to that more of the dam may be intact than previously thought. Assessing how much is left will be clear only once the water level falls. But already more than 150 tonnes of oil have leaked into the Dnieper. Infectious diseases are a less visible pollutant. The river’s fierce currents mean that it has the potential to do yet more damage. “We already know it is the most terrible catastrophe Ukraine has experienced in decades,” said the deputy minister.