Russia collects bodies of flood victims, sending them to unknown location in Kherson Oblast
Russian occupation
authorities on the left bank of Kherson Oblast are collecting corpses and
sending them to an unknown location, following the flood caused by the Russian destruction
of the Kakhovka Dam, the head of the press office of
Kherson Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, said on June
21.
“They pack all the bodies they find in black bags and take them to an unknown location,” Tolokonnikov said.
When bodies are brought to medical facilities in the area, the Russian occupation forces also falsify death records, Tolokonnikov said.
“They make any diagnosis of the cause of death, except drowning — in order not to record the victims of their terrorist attack, to hide their crimes, as usual,” he said.
“The invaders also ignore the local residents’ calls to check the houses and dismantle the rubble, as there may be dead people under it.”
Tolokonnikov believes that the number of victims, including the dead, could be high. However, the Ukrainian authorities cannot ascertain an accurate figure as they have no access to Russian-occupied territory.
“All we can get is the number of dead from the hospital — so far it’s about 11 in Oleshky and about the same number in Hola Prystan,” he said.
Overnight on June 6, Russian forces, which had occupied the town of Nova Kakhovka for over a year, blew up the Kakhovka Dam and hydropower plant. This act completely or partially flooded downstream towns and villages along the Dnipro River, including the regional capital of Kherson.
Ukraine immediately began evacuating residents from the government-controlled west bank of Kherson Oblast, while a catastrophe unfolded on the occupied east bank, which suffered considerably worse due to its lower elevation. Russian forces have actively avoided conducting evacuations in the territory they occupy, and have stonewalled attempts by international bodies such as the UN to lead their own evacuation missions.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
