As a direct result of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP dam, the reservoir’s area decreased by 80%, and Ukraine lost more than 10 cubic kilometers of water, said the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strilets.
He emphasized that about 80,000 hectares of protected areas were flooded because of the terrorist attack. The Nizhnyodniprovskyi, Veliky Lug, and Kamyanska Sich national parks are all expected to require a gradual and long recovery.
The world may forever lose species of plants and animals that are endemic to the region, including the sea pike and sea urchin, as well as 70% of the range of the global population of Nordmann’s mouse, and up to 50% of the range of the sand fly. The minister noted that restoring the affected ecosystems may take decades.