Navigation below the Dnieper HPP has been suspended indefinitely

As a result of the Russian terrorists undermining the Kakhovka HPP and the lowering of the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir, navigation on the Dnieper below the Dnieper HPP is suspended for an indefinite period. All vessels from the water area of the Kakhovka Reservoir should be redeployed higher up the Dnieper. This was announced on Facebook by the head of the State Service for Maritime, Inland Waterway Transport and Shipping of Ukraine Yevhenii Ihnatenko.

“For the second day, the Maritime Administration is actively working with shipowners whose ships are currently in the water area of the Kakhovka Reservoir. This is about 50 ships. Our task is to contribute to ensuring their unhindered redeployment from their bases higher up the Dnieper through the Zaporizhzhia gateway,” Ihnatenko said.

“The Dnieper River is the main artery of river shipping in Ukraine. And the Kakhovka sluice was the outermost Dnieper sluice that let all ships out to the open sea. In fact, the gates for Ukrainian exports were closed to us.

But now we have problems upstream.

The water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir drops by 10 cm every hour. The permissible level at the bottom of the Zaporizhzhia sluice is 14 m, this morning it was recorded at 16 m.

Therefore, if the level falls below this mark, we will not be able to conduct sluicing in Zaporizhzhia,” added Mr. Ihnatenko.

According to Yevhenii Ihnatenko, the maximum consequences of the terrorist attack will be in 3-5 days. Damages to water resources alone, according to preliminary data, have already amounted to UAH 2 billion. Ukrhydroenergo says that it will take 5 years and approximately €1 billion to restore the dam.