Flooding after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in Kherson, Ukraine, June 8, 2023. (Photo: VNA)

Strilets did not specify what comprised the estimated 1.31 billion USD in damages, but said 1 million people are without drinking water after the Kakhovka reservoir’s volume plunged by three quarters and debris has washed into other countries.

The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper River in Kherson collapsed on June 6. The dam, 30m high and 3.2km long, was built in 1956. With a reservoir capacity of 18 km3, it is an important source of water for the Crimean peninsula to the south and Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia, to the north. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the dam’s collapse.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that the destruction of the dam could lead to more serious consequences related to the safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

So far, the dam’s collapse has killed more than 50 people, and destroyed houses and farmland.