[Tee tiong huat]

An investigation by  Associated Press (AP) found Russian occupation authorities vastly deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating episodes of 22-month war in Ukraine — flooding followed the catastrophic explosion that destroyed Kakhovka Dam in southern Kherson region. Russia said only 59 people drowned in the territory it controls. But an AP investigation claims the number is at least in the hundreds in the town of Oleshky alone. 

Health workers and others who were in Oleshky told news agency that Russian authorities hid the true number by taking control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately removing bodies not claimed by family, and preventing local health workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead. An exact figure for the dead – in Oleshky, the occupied area’s most populous town before the war, and beyond – may never be known, even if Ukrainian forces retake the territory and are able to investigate on the ground.

“Scale of this tragedy, not just Russia, but even Ukraine doesn’t realise,” said Svitlana, a nurse who initially oversaw process of collecting death certificates later escaped to Ukrainian-controlled territory. “It’s a huge tragedy."

The dam was about 30 m (98 ft) tall and 3.2 km (2 mi) long, the breached segment was about 85 m (279 ft) long.[10] 2-days after the breach, the average level of flooding in Kherson region was 5.61 m (18.4 ft), according to local officials.

There were signs of an explosion at the time of the breach. Both Ukrainian and Russian sources reported hearing blasts from dam's hydroelectric power station regional seismometers detected explosions in area and a satellite detected the infrared heat signature of an explosion.

Water levels in Kakhovka Reservoir, controlled by Russia, had been rising for months were at a 30-yr high when dam failed, thousands of residents downstream were evacuated, floods submerged several villages in Ukrainian & Russian-controlled areas. By 21 June, 58 people were reported to have been killed and 31 were missing. Flooding killed many animals and damaged farmland, homes, businesses, & infrastructure. The loss of water from reservoir could threaten long-term water supply to Russian-controlled Crimea and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but there was no immediate risk to either.....but kill alot.