UKRAINIAN agriculture has suffered another massive hit after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka dam leaving not only towns and villages flooded but thousands of hectares of land at risk from drying out.

The dam, which blocks the Dnipro River, feeds the accompanying hydroelectric station and is also a source of water to irrigate fertile farmland in the Kherson region and beyond.

That land produces millions of tonnes of grain normally exported around the world, but if it cannot be irrigated, fears are it could turn into a desert.

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In what is being described as another act of terrorism, the Russians stand accused of blowing up the dam, possibly to slow down any Ukrainian counter offensive to oust the enemy from the region.

Kherson farmer, Andrii Pastushenko, says the situation is terrible for local villages and is grateful his farm is elevated.

Andrii said: “It is truly a terrible situation for hundreds of villages. Thousands of people had already been evacuated because the Russians continued to bomb the shore every day.

“But now we have to contend with the floods. Water levels are rising but thankfully most of our farm sits on a hill. Only our pump station that we use to irrigate the fields is under water.

“Ironically, this causes us other problems because our fields are so dry. With all the Russian missiles landing in our fields we have suffered many fires in the crops, three incidents during the past two days,” he said.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, according to preliminary estimates, predicts 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the right bank of the Kherson region will flood.

In addition, this man-made disaster will stop the water supply of 31 irrigation systems of the fields of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.

In 2021, these systems provided irrigation for 584 thousand hectares which produced around four million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, worth about US$1.5 billion.

A Ministry spokesman said: “In 2023, only 13 irrigation systems operate on the right bank of the Dnipro. The terrorist act at the Kakhovka hydroelectric station actually left 94 percent of irrigation systems in Kherson without a water source, 74 percent in Zaporizhzhya and 30 percent in Dnipropetrovsk regions.

“The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will lead to the fact that the fields in the south of Ukraine next year could turn into deserts.

“Without the Kakhovka reservoir, not only farmers and water users will suffer, but also sources of drinking water supply for settlements.

“The negative consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will also impact fisheries. Already they have reported the death of fish, both young and adults. The spawning period has just ended and as a result of the fall in the water level, caviar will dry up in the shallowed areas.”

The destruction of the dam could also affect the Russian held areas that feed off the Dnipro River including Crimea, which is already suffering reduced water supplies.

A canal carrying water to Crimea exits the river at Nova Kakhovka, just above the dam. Once the flood water has all gone the chances of water reaching the canal is quite low.