About 42,150 people are at risk from flooding on both banks of the Dnipro River after the Nova Kakhovka Dam was blown up: the peak of the flood wave is scheduled for today. This was reported by the Guardian citing Ukrainian officials. And on the website of the Ukrainian presidency, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that due to the explosion of the Kakhovka dam, "an oil slick of at least <> tons has formed that is carried by the current to the Black Sea. We cannot yet predict how much of the chemicals, fertilizers and petroleum products stored in flooded areas will end up in rivers and the sea. The evacuation of people from the flooded area is underway: almost eighty settlements are at risk".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposes an international commission of inquiry into the explosion of the Kekhovka dam in Ukraine. The proposal during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called the destruction of the Kakhovka dam "a barbaric action by Kiev", carried out at the suggestion of its "Western curators". This was reported by the Kremlin press service cited by Tass.
ANSA Agency
Nyt, 'the dam in Ukraine exploded from within' - Europe
The dam in Ukraine would explode from within. (ANSA)
With the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, Russia has caused "one of the worst environmental disasters in decades," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said today in a web speech at an OECD event. "Dozens of towns and villages will face problems with drinking water and access to water reserves for irrigation," the Ukrainian leader stressed, "it is a crime against humanity."
A video posted on Twitter by journalists and also Ukrainian officials shows the flooding and devastation in Oleshky, Kherson region, the day after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, under the control of Russian forces. The images show a vast area completely flooded, with water lapping the crowns of the trees. And in the background columns of smoke caused by explosions.
ANSA.it
Ukraine, satellite views of dam collapse and flooding - Science & Technology
(ANSA)
And the Ukrainian president attacks Moscow: "Our services are helping everyone involved, but we can only intervene on the territory controlled by Ukraine. In the part occupied by Moscow, the Russians are not even trying to help people," Zelesnky writes on Telegram. "Russian terrorists have proven once again that they are a threat to all that is alive."
On the other hand, the head of the pro-Russian administration, Vladimir Leontyev, and the pro-Russian governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, accuse Ukrainian forces of bombing the city of Novaya Kakhovka and other areas flooded by the collapse of the dam even during evacuation operations.
ANSA Agency
Ukraine: Kakhovka dam hit, Kiev blames Russians. Urgent meeting of the UN Council - Europe
Kiev blames the Russians. Moscow denies: "It was them." Many villages flooded. Melons: criminal act THE VIDEO (ANSA)
According to Russian emergency services, about 2,700 homes were flooded after the explosion and 1,300 people were evacuated and evacuated, TASSreported. A state of emergency has been declared throughout the Kherson region.
The operational and tactical situation has developed in favor of Russian forces, says Vladimir Saldo, pro-Russian governor of the Kherson region. "From a military point of view, the operational and tactical situation is favorable to Russian forces," he said on the Soloviev Live television broadcast, explaining "how the Ukrainian army's attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant would affect the defenses of Russian forces in the region."
Attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam: submerged houses
The floods damaged nearby bridges in the southern region of Mykolaiv, the head of the military administration of the city of Snihurivka Ivan Kukhta was quoted by CNN as saying. According to Kukhta, a bridge in the village of Yelyzavetivka was destroyed and another in the village of Halahanivka was "completely submerged by water." He added that authorities are evacuating residents from homes in Snihurivka.
And it is an exchange of accusations between Ukraine and Russia after the dam, an 18 million cubic meter basin, built in 1958, strategic to feed Crimea and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, blew up. For Kiev, Russia has "deliberately blown up the dam" and "the world must react." Moscow denies and reverses the accusation: "A terrorist act by Kiev to stop our troops."
Many dead, thousands evacuees. Several Russian soldiers were swept away by the waters: many were killed or wounded in the chaos, Ukrainian soldiers told CNN. Captain Andrei Pidlisnyi reported that when the dam collapsed "no one on the side of Russia was able to escape. The head of the Russian city administration Vladimir Leontyev, quoted by RIA Novosti, said that seven people were missing following the explosion of the hydroelectric plant and the flooding of the area near Novaya Kakhovka. "We are looking for the missing, there were shepherds in that area."
Volunteers rescue animals in flooded Kherson region
American intelligence tends to hold Russia guilty. Urgent meeting of the UN Security Council: "In any case it is the fault of the Russian invasion," says Guterres. "It is criminal to damage the dam," says Prime Minister Meloni. Cardinal Zuppi, the Pope's envoy to Kiev, was received by Zelensky. "A useful mission on the path of peace", comments the Holy See. For Kiev "the formula of peace can only be Ukrainian".
China's
concern Meanwhile, China expresses "serious concern about the damage to the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant" due to the "resulting humanitarian, economic and ecological impacts". Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, commenting on the affair, said Beijing calls on "all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and to do everything possible to protect the safety of civilians and civilian facilities." China's position on the Ukrainian crisis "has always been clear" and the hope is that "all parties will commit to a political solution and an easing of tensions".