Kherson dam attack could 'turn fields into deserts'

Destruction of Nova Kakhovka may also spark food crisis’

- BEL TREW

The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam will likely turn Ukraine’s southern fields “into deserts” within the year – sparking a global food security crisis, top Ukrainian officials have warned.

Ukraine’s emergency services are carrying out rescue operations across dozens of towns and villages in the wake of the dam which is under Russian occupation – unleashing the waters of one of Europe’s largest reservoirs across the war-torn south. The deluge has destroyed homes, drowned animals, severed clean water supplies and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

The sudden emptying of the reservoir has crippled key irrigation systems in three surrounding regions. That has stopped the water supply to nearly 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, and endangered the production of 4 million tonnes of grain and oil crops, Ukraine’s agricultural ministry wrote in a statement.

“The fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into deserts as early as next year,” the ministry said, adding that the surrounding countryside and water supplies have also been destroyed and fish stock killed. “In total, according to preliminary calculations, the losses from the death of all biological resources will amount to [$285m dollars],” it concluded.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a chief advisor to President Zelenksy, warned this “global ecological disaster” could impact worldwide food supplies, as Ukraine, nicknamed the bread basket of the world, is a major producer of grains and oils.