“Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka dam to prevent the advance of Ukrainian troops in the south of Kherson region,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sunday.
“The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was apparently carried out with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian defence forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson direction,” Malyar wrote on Telegram.
According to her, this action, which caused a large-scale flood that inundated towns and villages, trapping residents and demolishing houses, was also intended to help Russia move reserves to Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut districts. By blowing up the hydroelectric power station on 6 June 2023, Russia committed another horrific terrorist act against our country and our people.
Today, we decided to ask several students from different Ukrainian universities how they perceived this terrible event when it happened, and how they view the situation today. The thoughts, visions, and hopes of our young people are shared below.
“I remember going to check my Telegram to see if I had missed any messages. I see a forwarded news message from a friend – “Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam explosion” and only TWO words in caps: “HAVE YOU SEEN IT?” I read it. I still don’t understand what it means. I swear at the Russians. I get ready for work, try to return to everyday life. But this news about the hydroelectric power station does not leave me. What has happened and how? What are the consequences? How dangerous is it? And what about the people, the workers… I still immerse myself in the information flow and try to begin to understand what it means… Fear and horror are basic emotions that cannot be eliminated. Why people again? They are defenceless, what can they do but slowly watch their previous normal life die away: their memories, businesses, goals, streets, and good friends and family, all of it is evaporating right before their eyes. I watch videos of completely flooded houses, people sitting on the roofs just wanting to live, dogs trying to get out of the water that is everywhere, volunteers… I donate money for evacuation, boats. It’s the only thing I can do. And I repost, repost, repost, share all of this information with as many people as I can. I feel my own insignificance again. Where are those bloggers with quotes: “Everything is in your hands”, are these people in Kherson region deciding on anything now, can they at least save themselves? This is a question that eats away at you from the inside. Who do you have to be to treat people so viciously, so treacherously? Rhetorically, you have to be the Russians. It’s just fear. A message from another friend (she moved with her family from Kherson to a safe country a long time ago): “Look, this is my neighborhood. It used to be there. It is no longer there. It’s flooded. My school was there…”. I can’t hold back. I’m crying. Although, I understand it will do nothing. I keep donating. Again, I don’t understand, will it get worse? What should we all do with this? Fear is all we have.
The year is 2023, but it seems that we are living in some kind of medieval times. As a young person who grew up on the principles of democracy and human dignity, it is difficult for me to understand how such a bloody war is possible in the center of Europe. Ukraine has been on fire not just since today, unfortunately, it has been this way for the past nine years, and recently large parts of Ukraine have been flooded. The disaster at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station made it clear once again that Russia does not care about any life, it has its own cynical goals to pursue, and this is all that matters to Russia.
Reading and seeing the titanic work of volunteers in the Kherson region, who are saving the lives of everyone they can, you understand what People with a capital “P” truly are. But the international reaction of “great concern” is no longer reassuring, and in fact, it never has been. And against the backdrop of this catastrophe, you realize once again that we only have ourselves to rely on at such a difficult time.
Daryna Bogatyryova, a student at Taurida University, Faculty of Journalism, is interested in design and photography:
The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station is a disaster! It’s impossible to watch the videos of people and animals fleeing from the terrible flood without crying. And I can’t watch people who drowned in propaganda even more! Because, anyway, most people in Crimea are surrounded by “Russian” news (I am from Crimea, so this topic is very personal to me). And they happily tell us that it is the Ukrainian Armed Forces that are destroying everything, and that Russia is actually helping the people, unlike Ukrainians. This is a tragedy that continues to hurt all of us, Ukrainians, so deeply! I cannot remain indifferent to such events that destroy lives and everything around us. We must take every effort to ensure people’s safety and help those affected by this terrible event. Let this tragedy be another reminder of the inhumanity of those who came to our land! We must show the world that we will not break under the pressure of terrorists and enemies of our country. We will stand together, help each other and fight for peace and freedom. Let this tragedy strengthen our will and determination to defend our homeland. These “rescuers” dream of breaking us, but Ukrainians are unbreakable. Everything will be Ukraine!
The catastrophe caused by the Russians’ explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station made me personally think about several things. Firstly, it is sad to realize that for Ukrainians, disasters of this magnitude have become somewhat commonplace. I mean, if we imagine that the Kakhovka HPP had been destroyed before the full-scale invasion, I think society would have reacted even more sharply and the publicity would have been much greater. And so Kakhovka HPP became simply the next tragedy in a series of other tragedies: Mariupol, Bucha, Vinnytsia, Dnipro… And it’s really bitter to realize.
Secondly, I personally find it somewhat unpleasant and strange to see how the focus of Ukrainians has shifted from the aggressor itself to Western countries and Western media. Yes, I also agree that it was unacceptable for the UN to “celebrate” Russian Language Day on the day of the disaster. And some media outlets have indeed been covering recent events in Ukraine incorrectly, although we can discuss journalistic standards and the balance of opinion during a war for a long time. But we in Ukraine must first and foremost focus on ourselves and bring victory closer with our own hands, because no one else will do it for us.
You can help save the Kherson region by donating to our guys, volunteers. We leave the bank links for their immediate needs. We are stronger together.
HOW CAN WE HELP OUR VOLUNTEERS NOW?
Donate to the evacuation beads from the Free Kharkiv NGO:
Donate to powerful engines for the State Emergency Service from the NGO “Free and Unbreakable”:
Donate to help volunteers who support residents of the frontline and occupied territories (now engaged in evacuation) from the Ukrainian Volunteer Service:
