Yuri Kobzar14:24, 12/28/23

The scale of the tragedy is still poorly understood even in Ukraine, journalists say.

The number of victims of the June flood in the Kherson region , which occurred as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station by the Russians, significantly exceeds estimates not only of Russia, but also of Ukraine. We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of deaths, writes the Associated Press based on the results of a journalistic investigation.

The publication concluded that the Russian occupation authorities “significantly and deliberately” underestimated the number of deaths during the flood that engulfed large areas of the occupied left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. Witnesses interviewed by journalists said the occupiers took control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately seizing bodies not claimed by the family, and preventing local medical workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead, threatening them when they ignored orders.

“Not only Russia, but even Ukraine does not understand the scale of this tragedy. This is a huge tragedy,” said nurse Svetlana, who first monitored the process of collecting death certificates and then fled to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

According to data released by Russia, 59 people drowned during the flood in the territory it controls. But AP journalists concluded that in occupied Oleshki alone, where approximately 16,000 people lived at the time of the flood, the number of victims was at least in the hundreds. 

“The exact number of deaths – in Aleshki, the most populous city of the occupied territory before the war, and beyond – may never be known, even if Ukrainian forces regain the territory and are able to conduct an investigation on the spot,” the newspaper writes.

According to three medical workers who kept records of the dead in Aleshki, and one volunteer who buried the bodies, the dead were buried in group graves, and the unidentified bodies were taken somewhere and were never seen again. In a closed Telegram chat, where 3,000 residents of Aleshki are located, people wrote about the bodies lying on the streets, then the occupiers collected them and took them to an unknown direction.

As nurses Svetlana and Elena, who worked at the Aleshok hospital at that time, said, the invaders gave a strict order prohibiting the issuance of death certificates from the flood. However, they were still allowed to issue certificates for other causes of death. The new rule was announced orally.

From that moment on, they said, those killed by the flood were to be sent for autopsies to other institutions in the Kherson region, in Kalanchak, Skadovsk and Genichesk, where doctors approved by the occupation authorities would be responsible for issuing certificates after conducting forensic medical examinations.

But, as witnesses say, in the first three days of the flood, when the occupation authorities simply fled from Aleshki, people buried the dead on their own.

“The first bodies were buried in the city center (near the church), since 90% of the city was under water. These bodies were not taken into account by the hospital, nor by the autopsy, nor by the time of death, they were buried immediately. The bodies were collected and buried in a mass grave so that they did not begin to decompose on the streets of the city. After de-occupation there will be exhumation. Then we will be able to investigate everything,” say eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims.

According to doctors, a total of 200 to 300 people drowned in Aleshki. Most are older and physically unable to leave their homes or climb onto roofs.

Residents of Aleshki, speaking to the AP after returning to Ukrainian-controlled territory, said that most of the city was no longer suitable for habitation. Now two-thirds of Alyoshki are gone, entire districts have been destroyed.

(C)UNIAN 2023