Kakhovka Reservoir

The Kakhovka Reservoir (Kakhovs'ke vodoskhovyshche) was a water reservoir on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. It was created in 1956 by construction of the Kakhovka Dam at Nova Kakhovka. It was one of several reservoirs in the Dnieper reservoir cascade. The dam was breached on 6 June 2023, which international consensus attributes to Russian forces mining and blowing the base of the dam, while Russia alternatively described it as a "terrorist" act, in the case of the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, or as caused by a lack of maintenance, in the case of the Russian government. By the end of June, the reservoir was completely dry. The reservoir covers a total area of in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts of Ukraine. It is long and up to wide. The depth varies from and averages . The total water volume is . The Kakhovka dam has resulted in the natural water level of the Dnieper River being raised . Locals sometimes referred to the reservoir as the Kakhovka Sea as the other side of the river bank could not be seen at some points. It is used mainly to supply hydroelectric stations, the Krasnoznamianka Irrigation System, the Kakhovka Irrigation System, industrial plants such as the 5.7 GW Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, freshwater fish farms, the North Crimean Canal and the Dnieper–Kryvyi Rih Canal. Its creation formed a deep-water route for ships to sail up the Dnieper. The Russia–Ukraine war has had a profound impact on water resources and water infrastructure. Beginning in early November 2022, following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia opened the spillways at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the reservoir dropped to its lowest level in thirty years, putting at risk irrigation and drinking water resources as well as the coolant systems for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. From 1 December 2022 to 6 February 2023, the water level dropped . The purpose of the discharge was unclear. It could have been a way to harm Ukrainian agriculture, but most of the affected agricultural areas were in Russian-held parts of Ukraine as of early 2023.