Relatives of at least 395 people from Oleshky, Hola Prystan, Krynky, and Kokhany located in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region cannot find or get in touch with them, the BBC reports, citing volunteers working on the Dnipro’s occupied left bank.
As of 1:11 PM local time, 10 June, the volunteers have received 1,749 requests for evacuation from the areas flooded after the recent Kakhovka dam collapse. People seeking transportation out of the affected territories include 116 children, 185 pensioners, and 32 people with low mobility issues. Moreover, 203 people require urgent help. There were more than 1,900 active appeals on the map on Friday morning.
The volunteer map shows places where people appealed for urgent help
Volunteers told Novaya Gazeta Europe that more than a hundred people are in distress in the village of Livi Solontsi on the occupied left bank of the Dnipro.
The area is completely flooded, with people seeking refuge on rooftops to wait for help.
“As of today [9 June] we know that there has been no help from either the Emergencies Ministry or volunteers. It is complicated by the fact that it is very difficult for volunteers to get there because there is an active combat area and a strong current observed. Several evacuation requests have been sent to the Emergencies Ministry but so far no positive response has been received by either relatives or volunteers,” volunteer Natalia told Novaya-Europe.
“If people are not evacuated today, it is very unlikely that anyone will be able to stay alive the next day,”
she added.
According to Natalia, reports of deaths are already emerging.
The BBC also reports that volunteers know the names of two people who did not receive any help and died during the flooding, one of them born in 1948.
Livi Solontsi. Photo provided to Novaya-Europe by volunteer Ekaterina
Another volunteer, Diana Ramazanova, told Holod that she was able to get through to the Emergencies Ministry on the evening of 9 June. The rescuers told her that they were already working in Livi Solontsi and that “the water had gone down by 4.5 metres”.
Volunteer coordinator Yaroslav told Novaya-Europe that he had no information about the arrival of the Emergencies Ministry in Livi Solontsi, although he knows that they are working in Hola Prystan, evacuating people to temporary accommodation centres.
“According to my information, they were idle for three days but now, thank God, they have somehow stepped up and are rescuing some people,” Yaroslav said.
He said that he sent volunteers to Livi Solontsi on 8 June but they came under fire.
“We almost lost a whole boat. As it was dangerous, we only managed to get a few people out. We also sent three or four boats to Livi Solontsi today. But as soon as the guys are dispatched, we lose communication with them,” the coordinator explained.
According to him, one boat only evacuated six people, the second boat managed to evacuate more but he does not know the exact number of evacuees.
One of the volunteers noted that the journey from Hola Prystan to Solontsi and back takes two hours. Volunteers handed out water bottles and food to people, but not much. At the same time, Yaroslav said that some people refuse to evacuate. He does not know why.
“The situation is difficult. I have been told that a large number of bodies are already found in Livi Solontsi. According to various sources, there are about twenty of them. People report this from the site: residents who are still in touch with relatives. Word of mouth really, but at least there is some information.”
“In general, there are a lot of victims. It could have been avoided if things had been done differently. There are hundreds of victims. It includes both children and elderly people,”
said Yaroslav.
By the evening of 9 June, he learnt that a group of volunteers who were mainly dispatched to help in Oleshky had managed to evacuate 50 people from Pravi Solontsi in one day. The coordinator attributed this positive development to the fact that this group always stays in touch and it’s easy to coordinate them live.
“It’s just impossible to reach an agreement on anything with the administration, with the military, with the Emergencies Ministry. They obstruct our work and don’t let us in. The town of Oleshky is the most flooded settlement but volunteers have not been allowed to go there since the very first days,” he said.
Volunteer Diana Ramazanova, who procures boats in Moscow for the Emergencies Ministry, told IStories that the Russian security forces refuse to allow volunteers to reach the disaster area because of the shelling. She claims that this information was provided to her by a “handler” from among the rescuers.
The head of the occupation administration, Vladimir Saldo, said that as of the morning on 10 June, more than 6,000 people had been evacuated from the flooded areas.
Livi Solontsi is located 80 km away from the Kakhovka dam which was destroyed on the night of 6 June.
Earlier, the volunteers involved in helping those affected by flooding after the dam collapse appealed to Russian commissioner for human rights Tatyana Moskalkova and Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov, asking them to let volunteers into Oleshky to help with the evacuation.
According to the occupation authorities, eight people have died since the Kakhovka dam collapsed.
