Ukrainians living by the empty Kakhovka reservoir are coping but the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is a constant worry
Anna Supranova stood in front of what was once a vast artificial sea. Her home – at no 7 Hetman Street – looks on to Kakhovka reservoir in southern Ukraine. Or at least it did. The water has recently vanished. Most of it disappeared in the space of three surreal days last month, after Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam farther downstream.
Ever since, Supranova and other residents in the frontline town of Nikopol have been without water. At the bottom of her garden is an unearthly and desolate muddy plain. It stretches as far as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, visible in the near haze. The civilian facility – occupied by Moscow since the beginning of its invasion – is 5km away.
