ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. The restoration of the Kakhovka HPP dam will take several months, not years, because part of the structure survived the Ukrainian strike, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Zaporozhye Region’s governor has told TASS.
"About the dam: we recently examined the scale of destruction. I can say that specialists who built the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP came over and looked into how to go about this business. The dam is not all destroyed: only the top of it was damaged. It will not be difficult to restore it. At least according to their estimates, we will be able to do this within months and not years. I will avoid making forecasts for now, but as soon as such an opportunity presents itself to us, we will mend this dam quickly", said Balitsky.
"There will be no need for very large resources and funds, because only the concrete superstructure is damaged. That is, the dam itself is not completely destroyed, contrary to what happened in 1941, when our troops retreated and i] was blown up. Or when the Nazis retreated and blew up the Dnieper HPP (in 1943 - TASS)," Balitsky said.
On the morning of June 6, 2023, the Ukrainian military carried out a missile strike on the Kakhovka HPP. The gate valves were destroyed and uncontrolled water discharge began. In Novaya Kakhovka, the Kherson Region, the level of water rose to 12 meters and 59 people died. The dam’s destruction caused serious damage to the environment. Farm fields along the Dnieper were washed away.