Dnieper River?s water level down 2.5 meters near Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The water level in the Dnieper River near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) dropped by 2.5 meters and this figure may reach seven meters following the damage that was inflicted on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), acting Zaporozhye Region Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Tuesday.

"As of now, the water level near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has already dropped by 2.5 meters, but we are expecting it to drop even further," Balitsky said speaking on the air of Russia?s Rossiya-24 television channel. "This drop will probably hit a figure of seven meters."

The Ukrainian military shelled the Kakhovka hydropower plant overnight to June 6 presumably from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system, destroying the hydraulic valves at the dam and water to pour out uncontrollably. Water levels have already exceeded 10 meters in Novaya Kakhovka.

Now there are 14 settlements in the flood zone, in total about 80 may be inundated. Residents of nearby settlements are being evacuated, while authorities say that large-scale evacuations will not be required. The destruction of the hydroelectric power station caused serious damage to the environment, farmlands along the Dnieper to be washed away, and there is a risk of the North Crimean Canal drying up.

--0-- yon/vvk