Alexander Ermochenko | ReutersThe destruction of the Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea. The Kakhovka Dam was the last in a system of six Soviet-era dams on the river, which flows from Belarus to the Black Sea. When Russian forces seized the Kakhovka Dam, the whole system fell into neglect. Rainbow-colored slicks already coat the murky, placid waters around flooded Kherson, the capital of southern Ukraine's province of the same name. "The canal that supplied our water reservoir has also stopped flowing."

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Persons: Alexander Ermochenko, Zelenskyy, Trudeau, Putin, Kateryna Filiuta, Dmytro Neveselyi, we'll Organizations: Ukraine Nature Conservation, Russian, Associated Press, Agriculture, Farmers Locations: Nova, Russia, Ukraine, Hola, Kherson, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarus, Ukraine's province, Kherson province, Maryinske