Alarming reports from the south of Ukraine arrived more and more often, when the water in the Black Sea had a green hue and an unpleasant smell. Residents of Odessa and Nikolaev published many videos of dirty water with floating garbage. The water from the Dnieper, which gushed downstream, significantly reduced the salinity of seawater, which created a favorable environment for bacteria’s reproduction.

   According to environmental experts, this polluted water is moving towards Romania and Bulgaria, where local authorities are already concerned about changes in the level of iron in seawater. The leaders of these countries doubt that the tourist season will open this year, and the ecological well-being of the sea and coastal areas is in danger. River water carried fertilizers and chemicals from the fields to the Black Sea. Nitrogen and phosphorus threaten marine flora and fauna, which can lead to another wave of species extinction. This will cause a sharp increase in the content of dangerous infectious agents in the water — cholera, hepatitis, botulism, intestinal infections, and many others. According to official data, which were announced by the Minister of Health of Ukraine, Viktor Liashko, the level of water pollution in the Dnieper has been exceeded by 28 times.

   Today, one can endlessly ask why, when, and who needed the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP, but the fact remains: the Black Sea is on the verge of an ecological catastrophe. In the era of the Internet, it is difficult to conceal the fact that the Ukrainian military systematically tried to destroy the hydroelectric power plant. Since July 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been launching missile strikes on the infrastructure of the station, because the main goal was to disrupt the logistics of Russian troops on the right bank of the Dnieper. After the Antonovsky Bridge was put out of operation, it was the Kakhovskaya HPP automobile bridge that remained the last transport artery for Russian troops’ supplies.

   The peak intensity of rocket attacks on long-range HIMARS is reached in the fall of 2022. Already in December, Major-General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Kovalchuk inadvertently made a reservation in an interview with Western media that the Ukrainian military inflicted a series of test strikes using HIMARS on one of the dam locks, making three holes in the metal. The military wanted to see if the water of the Dnieper could rise high enough to block Russian movements, but not flood the nearest districts and settlements. According to the general, the test was successful. And we can already see how successful it was today, when cemeteries, animal burial grounds, and cesspools were taken out into the Black Sea, destroying a unique ecosystem.