They know what it’s like to be on the brink of disaster in Krivyi Rih. Now more than a month ago, 14 Russian cruise missiles hit the Karachun hydroelectric dam for three days, Next to this industrial city in south-central Ukraine is the same place where president Volodímir Zelenski was born. According to local authorities, the Iskander and hypersonic missiles used in the attack, they destroyed one of the reservoir doors and the water started flowing downhill at a rate of 240 liters per second. in the direction of two districts of the city connected to the reservoir. “Probably the purpose flood those neighborhoods and kill thousands of people to create panic.” Sergiy Milyutin, The deputy mayor. “He lives in these two counties 150,000 people. could be the biggest civilian massacre From Hiroshima,” he adds exaggeratedly.
100 houses flooded and about twenty streets were evacuated, but it could have been worse. lightning sealing the door with 100 tons of stone and clay would not have been completed in record time. “If we had driven 24 hours instead of 16, two districts would have been flooded. The water would reach the height of a second floor,” says Oleksandr Vilkul, the man leading this operation, a trained engineer and head of the city’s Military Administration. “We were very close to a disaster.”
Ukraine is a high-risk war. And not just for the conflicting parties. Since the Russian invasion beganThe Kremlin has not stopped calling for the possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons A scarecrow on the territory of Ukraine, based on the two thousand tactical nuclear weapons it has, according to US intelligence. arsenal. Not to mention the strategic ones, more abundant and even scarier. “This is not a bluff,” said Vladimir Putin, after the recent formal annexation of four regions his troops partially occupied in Ukraine.
powder keg of Zaporizhia
However, this is only a part of the radioactive cake, as there has been fighting around the area for months. Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. The factory is still run by hundreds of Ukrainian workers, but has been under the control of Russian forces since March, and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of carrying out artillery strikes. Ukraine also adds: heavy Russian weapons are around him, and the International Atomic Energy Organization does not get tired of repeating that the “situation is unsustainable.”
everyday risk level seems to be changing. Its six reactors were shut down for a few weeks, but one of the plant’s continuous electricity supply to keep them cool and avoid disaster. And this same Monday it’s back to being connected to the internet only. external emergency generatorsAfter the Russian bombardment, they cut off their access. electricity networkAs reported by the Ukrainian operator. “In recent days, the Russian invaders have deliberately attacked the substations connected to the high-voltage lines feeding the atomic power plants and bombarded the entire region,” he said. energy goat this is an explanation.
Emergency plans
All these factors made the nuclear threat no longer a simple one for the Ukrainians. rough fun gaining an audience in worldwide media, if not by far the only or the closest one. Both kyiv and various regions were drawn contingency plans prepare potential population evictionsany detection as soon as possible. abnormal radiation level and respond to the different scenarios that appear on the horizon. “From the crisis center we have three months to rethink and invent new plans to deal with any situation,” he says. Taras TyschchenkoMembers of the Zaporizhia Crisis Center are under the command of the Military Administration.
your body has six brigades operating throughout the provinceDedicated to monitoring and researching radiation levels at all times possible evacuation routes. “The population should never be evacuated immediately after the explosion. The survivors will have to hide, and the President will decide when to start evacuating people.” slogan locking themselves in shelters or housespreferably in windowless rooms to avoid contact with radioactive air. “When radiation levels drop, possibly within 48 hours, safer ways and instructions on how and where to drop off”.
Between face bomb shelter Kriyiv Rih, all built during The Cold Warwhen it is part of the country Soviet Union, only one approaching what is often understood as a nuclear bunker. In a city park. Under the ground. on the roof, four meters of concrete and two more earth. It has a capacity of about 500 people in a city. 650,000 inhabitants in peacetime and has one of the largest concentrations of IDPs in the country. Its doors are open, and some are now fleeing the traditional bombings that continue to plague cities and towns.
blackmailing the West
“They’re not exactly that kind of shelter. US presidentbut some can block radioactive dust”, says Milyutin, the deputy mayor of the city, with irony. Kriyiv Rih bought a “strategic amount” potassium iodide they are also working on potential evacuation routes since the summer to eventually manage among the population. But Milyutin is not so worried. At least for now. “Russia is using the nuclear threat blackmail the west. This idea doesn’t have much support even within the country,” he says on the ramp of the bunker.
To avoid panic, we must be prepared and know how to act, but no Ukrainian leaves the country for this reason. Nuclear fear did not increase, what increased, hatred towards Russia For what they did to us,” adds the deputy mayor.