On June 6, 2026, it will be three years since the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, one of the largest man-made and environmental disasters in the history of independent Ukraine and all of Europe. The event occurred during the second year of the full-scale war and still determines the life of several southern regions.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was located on the Dnieper River near Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and was the last stage of the Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric power plants. The construction of the plant began in the 1950s, the first turbine was installed in 1955, and the installed capacity was approximately 351 MW. The plant, along with the reservoir, formed the water balance of a vast territory, providing drinking water, irrigation of fields, and technical needs of industry. Nova Kakhovka and the hydroelectric power plant itself were under the occupation of Russian troops from the beginning of the invasion, and all specialists who worked at the facility became hostages along with the plant.
At around 3 am on June 6, 2023, the dam of the hydroelectric power plant was blown up. According to Ukrhydroenergo, the explosives laid in several places damaged the plant’s structures, which gradually led to the destruction of the entire hydroelectric complex and the uncontrolled spill of water from the Kakhovka reservoir. Millions of tons of water rushed downstream, sweeping away everything in their path.
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The scale of the flooding became clear in the first hours. 620 square kilometers of territory in four regions — Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk — were flooded, and 100,000 residents of these regions were affected. The flows covered dozens of settlements on both banks of the Dnieper, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes; residential areas, roads, agricultural fields, and infrastructure facilities were underwater.
The environmental losses were no less significant. The ecosystems of the Dnieper River were destroyed, animals and fish died, and many areas were polluted with waste and petroleum products. The Kakhovka reservoir, which for many years provided water to a significant part of southern Ukraine, rapidly shallowed. The situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant caused particular concern. The plant used water from the reservoir for technical needs, so the drop in the water level raised questions about its cooling.
The economic estimate of the losses grew along with the study of the event. According to a report by the Ukrainian government and the UN as of October 17, 2023, direct losses to infrastructure and assets were estimated at $2.79 billion, while the total amount of losses exceeded $11 billion, and the needs for restoration and reconstruction amounted to approximately $5.04 billion. According to separate estimates published on the UN portal in Ukraine, the destruction of the plant cost the country almost $14 billion. The scale of the event is compared to the most severe accidents of the past. Ukrhydroenergo calls June 6, 2023, the largest man-made disaster since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Three years later, the south of the country is still dealing with the consequences of that night. The natural landscape has changed at the site of the former reservoir, some settlements are still recovering from flooding and destroyed infrastructure, and the restoration of the territories will require many years. The explosion has affected the water supply of the regions, the operation of irrigation systems, and the state of agriculture, and these processes continue to this day. The date remains a reminder of the event that simultaneously changed the environmental, humanitarian, and economic reality of several regions.
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