‘Russian terrorists’ strike Kakhova dam, water levels rise near Kherson

Thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes after a major Ukrainian dam was damaged by “multiple strikes”. Warning: Graphic

Thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing their homes after the Kakhova dam was partially destroyed by strikes from “Russian terrorists” and started floodings nearby regions, according to Ukrainian officials.

Several villages have been “completely or partially flooded” following damage to the Russian-occupied Kakhovka dam in Ukraine and evacuations from the area have begun, a Ukrainian official said.

“About 16,000 people are in the critical zone on the right bank of the Kherson region,” Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson military administration, said on social media Tuesday local time, adding that there was flooding in eight areas along the Dnipro River.

Water is surging down the Dnipro river and is said to pose a catastrophic flooding risk to the city of Kherson.

Damage to the Kakhovka hydro-electric dam. Picture: Maxar Technologies/AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 80 towns and villages were at risk of flooding after the destruction of the dam at Nova Kakhovka, which he blamed on Russia and said the country should bear “criminal liability” for “ecocide.”

“In our opinion, this is a crime, the Prosecutor General’s Office has already registered it. It will have evidence. There is a modern classification — ecocide,” Mr Zelenskyy said in an interview with national media.

“I think that there should be criminal liability … International institutions, including the International Criminal Court, should react.”

Moscow and Kyiv traded blame for ripping a gaping hole in the dam in what Kyiv said was an attempt by Russia to hamper Ukraine’s long-awaited offensive.

Russia has denied destroying the dam – which it controls – instead blaming Ukrainian shelling.

Thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing their homes from potential flooding after the Kakhova dam was partially destroyed. Picture: Maxar Technologies/AFP

Mr Zelenskyy will urgently convene his Security Council in response to the incident, a top adviser said.

“Kakhovka hydro-electric plant. Another war crime committed by Russian terrorists. The president has convened the National Security Council,” the president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.

Moscow-installed authorities in southern Ukraine said there was an attack on the dam.

“Multiple strikes targeted the Kakhovka dam” overnight in Nova Kakhovka, the head of the city’s Moscow-backed administration, Vladimir Leontiev said, claiming they had destroyed the dam’s gate valves and caused an “uncontrollable” flow of water.

There is likely to be wide swept flooding in the villages downstream, with reports of water levels rising.

Built on the Dnipro River in 1956, during the Soviet era, the structure is partly made of concrete and partly of earth. It is one of the largest pieces of infrastructure of its kind in Ukraine.

The dam, seized at the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, notably supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine was “another devastating consequence” of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

According to Mr Guterres, the UN “has no access to independent information on the circumstances that led to the destruction” of the Kakhovka hydro-electric power plant dam.

“But one thing is clear,” he added.

“This is another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Guterres, who since the start of Russia’s invasion has condemned Moscow for violating the UN charter, said attacks against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure “must stop.”

The head of the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant said there was “no security threat” to the facility after damage to the dam, according to AFP.

Meanwhile, European Union chief Charles Michel expressed shock at the attack on the dam, pledging to hold Russia accountable for the “war crime” of destroying civilian infrastructure.

Michel, the head of the body that brings together EU leaders, said he would propose “more assistance to the flooded areas” at their next summit in Brussels this month.

RUSSIA REPELS UKRAINE’S COUNTER-ATTACK

Russia on Monday said it had repelled “a large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces in the Moscow occupied Donetsk region.

Kyiv has remained silent about plans to claw back lost territory as Ukrainian officials were expected to hold talks with Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who headed to Kyiv on Monday for two days of negotiations.

Ukraine says it has been preparing a major offensive after months of stalemate to recapture territory lost since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops in February last year.

But officials have been tight-lipped about the details, saying there would be no formal announcement about the start of the operation.

On Sunday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov posted a cryptic tweet, citing lyrics from Depeche Mode’s song, “Enjoy the Silence.”

“Words are very unnecessary,” he tweeted. “They can only do harm.”

A burning apartment building in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Military experts expect Ukrainian forces to test Russian defences for weaknesses before starting a full-blown offensive.

Early Monday, Russia’s defence ministry said that on Sunday “the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front” in the south of the Donetsk region.

“A total of six mechanised and two tank battalions of the enemy were involved,” it said in a Telegram post, adding that Ukrainian troops had hit “the most vulnerable, in their opinion, sector of the front”.

“The enemy did not achieve their tasks, they had no success.” The ministry posted what it said was a video of the battle, showing Ukrainian armoured vehicles coming under heavy fire.

Mr Putin’s top commander in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov, “was at one of the advanced command posts,” the ministry said.

Ukrainian forces are “conducting offensive operations” in and around the frontline of Bakhmut. Picture: AFP

A high-profile Russian war correspondent, Alexander Kots, said that “battles have been going on” in the area of Ugledar, in the south of the Donetsk region, and also further north in Soledar and Bakhmut, which were occupied by Moscow’s forces after months of fighting.

Kots said Ukrainian forces were “conducting offensive operations” in and around the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut which Russian mercenary group Wagner claimed last month had fallen to Moscow.

He suggested that Kyiv had not yet “introduced the main forces into battle.”

TODDLER KILLED, CHILDREN INJURED IN RUSSIAN ATTACK

Ukrainian rescuers outside the city of Dnipro on Sunday recovered the body of a two-year-old girl from the rubble left by a Russian strike on a residential area.

On the other side of the border, Russian authorities asked villagers living in a heavily shelled district on the Ukraine border to leave their homes after deadly strikes prompted thousands to flee.

The Russian attack that hit the Pidhorodnenska suburb of the central city of Dnipro on Saturday came as Moscow has this week intensified aerial assaults on Ukraine.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko looks at a crater outside a clinic following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. At least three were killed, including a child. Picture: Getty Images

“At night, a girl’s body was retrieved from under the rubble of a house in the Pidhorodnenska community” outside Dnipro, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Sunday. “She just turned two.”

Officials said the strike killed the toddler, born in 2021, and wounded at least 22 others.

Five children were in hospital, including three boys who were in a critical condition, they added.

Local residents react as they look at the body of a woman who died as a result of a downed missile explosion outside a polyclinic during the Russian attack on Kyiv. Picture: AFP

Kyiv also said a Russian strike had hit an airfield in central Ukraine overnight, which Moscow appeared to confirm on Sunday, saying it had struck military air bases with long-range weapons overnight.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, hit by increased Ukrainian shelling this week, said on Sunday, local time, that there was ongoing “combat” in the border village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

“A sabotage group came, there is combat now in Novaya Tavolzhanka,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. “I hope they will all be destroyed.”

Rescuers and medical workers assist a woman whose daughter and granddaughter died as a result of a downed missile explosion during the Russian attack on Kyiv. Picture: AFP

The attacks came at the end of a week that saw Russia launch a series of air assaults on Kyiv, including rare daytime strikes.

The conflict, which has dragged on for more than 15 months, has escalated this week with increased attacks on both sides of the border.

Kyiv has for months said it is preparing for a major counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the country is “ready” but pleaded for more Western weapons to counter Russia’s air superiority.

A man mourns over the body of his granddaughter killed during a Russian missile attack, next to a damaged clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

Russian authorities have asked residents of villages of a heavily shelled district in the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine to leave their homes.

Intensified Ukrainian shelling of the Shebekino district this week has left several people dead and forced thousands to leave the area for Belgorod city.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Sunday some 4,000 people left border villages and were placed in temporary housing.

He urged residents of several villages on the border to leave their homes. He said the goal was “to safeguard what is most important: your life and the lives of your close ones”.

He said it was another “not calm night” in the district with “a lot of damage”.

People evacuated from zones bordering Ukraine, including those from the town of Shebekino, receive humanitarian aid in Belgorod. Picture: AFP

Tatiana Kozheleva, a 64-year-old pensioner who left Shebekino and was receiving humanitarian aid in Belgorod, told AFP there was almost “nothing left” of the small city.

“Our city Shebekino was bombed and bombed,” she said.

“Our house was also hit by a shell,” she said, adding that her balcony was damaged.

“We almost did not get out from under the shelling.”

On Saturday, Ukrainian shelling killed two women in Russian border villages.

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, leaves after holding a press conference at the European Political Community (EPC) Summit. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Gladkov said the authorities would take minors from border villages and the children of mobilised soldiers fighting in Ukraine to youth camps.

The Belgorod region has been hit by drone and artillery attacks from Ukraine for months but the shelling has never been as intense as in recent days.

On Thursday, Moscow said it had pushed back a ground attack from Ukraine in the region, which late last month was the scene of a dramatic incursion from across the border.

Displaced people in Belgorod told AFP they were satisfied with the way they have been treated and praised local authorities.

ZELENSKYY WARNS PUTIN HAS ‘TASTE FOR WAR’

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Vladimir Putin “will develop a taste” for war far beyond Ukraine if he is allowed to win.

The Ukrainian President called on world leaders to unite against Russia ahead of his counteroffensive – reminding them they could be fending off an invasion from Russia next.

He reiterated his earlier appeals for international aid while delivering a sobering caution to other countries regarding Mr Putin’s post-war plans should he emerge the victor.

Mr Zelenskyy expressed his frustration that some Western allies were not providing more advanced artillery that could help Ukraine defeat Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow. Picture: AFP

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he insisted he “strongly believes” that his forces will triumph – but they need help urgently.

If his battered nation cannot withstand Mr Putin’s push forward, Mr Zelenskyy warned “that animal, that beast will develop a taste” for power and domination that won’t stop at Ukraine’s door.

“Let’s not compare who should be grateful to whom,” he said.

According to The Sun, leaked spy documents showed that the Russian leader believed Western leaders would be falling at his feet and that NATO would disintegrate after he invaded Ukraine.

Mr Putin had his eyes set on a lightning victory that would topple his global rivals and leave them begging for mercy but instead, the war has dragged on as he severely underestimated the strength of Ukraine’s defence.

Originally published as ‘Russian terrorists’ strike Kakhova dam, water levels rise near Kherson