June 12, 2023

Ecocide, Russia's Latest Weapon of War


Ecocide, Russia's Latest Weapon of War
Man holding a baby as the water rises in Ukraine. Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings |, Twitter.

While Ukraine slept in the early hours of June 6, the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River was blown up, becoming the region's worst environmental catastrophe since Chernobyl. The floodings in Kherson Oblast displaced thousands, limited the drinking water supply, and destroyed natural habitats, houses, and historical landmarks. As of the publication of this article, 13 persons are confirmed dead.

The Kakhovka Dam was considered one of the most significant construction projects of the Stalin's era. The station provided irrigation, drinking water, and electricity to Southern Ukraine. 

Russian forces occupied the dam on March 16, 2022, and the plant ceased operations later that year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on October 20, 2022, that the occupants had mined the dam to "commit a terrorist attack and blame Ukraine for it." Russia retreated on November 11, 2022, damaging parts of the plant as they left.

An estimated 20 thousand persons will need to relocate due to the flooding caused by the explosion. Some 29 Kherson settlements were affected by the flooding, 10 of them under Russian occupation. The Kyiv Post reported that, in occupied towns, Russian authorities refused to assist residents who did not have Russian passports. Amid evacuation efforts, Russia shelled inundated Kherson, killing one person.

  • The destruction caused by the floods was such that Odesa residents reported finding debris on their coast 126 miles away.
  • The house of self-taught artist Polina Rayko, a National Monument of Ukraine, is now underwater, and all her paintings on the walls are lost. 
  • All animals of the zoo in Nova Kakhovka, the town adjacent to the dam, drowned. Only the ducks survived.
  • Authorities reported that 150 tons of machine oil poured into the Dnipro River due to the explosion.
  • The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is facing a water shortage that threatens maintenance and safety. 
  • Climate activist Greta Thunberg called the attack an ecocide.

On the date of the explosion, the UN celebrated Russian language day.

You Might Also Like

Greenpeace Declared
  • May 21, 2023

Greenpeace Declared "Undesirable"

The Russian General Procurator announced Greenpeace has been declared an "undesirable organization," banning it in Russia.
Flowers for Dnipro
  • January 22, 2023

Flowers for Dnipro

Russians across the country spontaneously mourned the victims of their country's January 14 missile attack on Dnipro, Ukraine, which crushed an apartment building.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955