Ukraine dam: Dislodged mines a major concern as residents flee Kherson

BBC News:

The breaching of a major dam in southern Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines, the Red Cross has warned.

Thousands of people have already been evacuated from parts of the Kherson region as water continues to surge down the Dnipro river which divides Russian and Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Both Ukraine and Russia blame each other for sabotaging the Kakhovka dam.

Three flood-related deaths have been reported in the Russian-held Oleshky.

Yevhen Ryshchuk, the town’s exiled Ukrainian mayor, told public broadcaster Suspilne he believed there would be more casualties.

The BBC has been unable to verify claims by Ukrainian and Russian officials.

• Who benefits from breaching the dam?

Erik Tollefsen, head of the Red Cross’s weapon contamination unit, warned dislodged mines had sparked major concerns not just for Kherson residents, but also those coming to help.

“We knew where the hazards were,” he told AFP news agency. “Now we don’t know.

“All we know is that they are somewhere downstream.”

Nataliya Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s military South Command, told Ukrainian TV: “Many anti-infantry mines [in Russian-seized areas] have been dislodged, becoming floating mines.

“They pose a great danger,” she said, explaining that they were likely to explode if they collided or hit debris.

The dam in Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovka was breached in the early hours of Tuesday, leading to mass evacuations as water levels downstream rapidly increased.

Officials say 30 towns and villages along the river have been flooded and nearly 2,000 homes have been submerged in the city of Kherson – the region’s capital controlled by Ukraine.

One woman, who arrived in Kherson on a rescue boat from the Russian-occupied east side of the river, explained how quickly the situation escalated after she heard about the disaster early on Tuesday.

“We managed to collect our things but the water kept rising. At that moment I was cooking buckwheat and my feet were already underwater. It started to flood really fast,” Kateryna Krupych, 40, told the BBC.

“It feels like we lived a whole life in just one day.”

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the Ukrainians are developing a plan to help people on both sides of the Dnipro river.

“We are saving everyone on the right [Ukrainian-controlled] bank and developing a plan to help people on the [Russian-held] left bank.”