As the time elapsed from explosion to Kakhovka damthe greater the degree of destruction unfolds.

Wednesday afternoon her home secretary Ukrainian it became known that the damage Kakhovka dam led to their flooding. 29 towns and villages along the Dnieper. OUR Igor Klimenko he stressed that about half of the affected areas are on the Ukrainian side of the river, while the rest are on the Russian-held left bank.

OUR Alexander Prokudin – head of the Ukrainian military command in Kherson– stated that Ukraine evacuated approx. 1700 people from flooded areas.

The destruction of the dam will flood tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in the south of Ukraine and could transform at least 500,000 hectares of land who were left without irrigation in “desert“, – reported the Ministry of Agriculture of Ukraine.

Ukraine has 33 million hectares of agricultural landAccording to the World Bank, almost 2% of this area could be at risk.

Ukraine, a major global grain producer and exporter, has accused Moscow of committing war crimeby blowing up the Soviet dam that fed hydroelectric power station and was occupied by Russia. The Kremlin blames Ukraine.

Kyiv calculated that ca. 42,000 people are at risk from flooding which are expected to peak in the next few hours.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said the collapse of the dam had left hundreds of thousands of people without access to drinking water.

Putin speaks of a “catastrophe”.

At the same time, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin described the events at the Kakhovka dam as “ecological and humanitarian catastrophe” during a telephone conversation that he had today with his Turkish colleague Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At the same time, the state news agency TASS reported that the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said the US, UK and their NATO allies were “responsible” for the destruction of the dam. He added that these countries “coordinate the activities of Ukraine” and therefore “gave their consent to the explosions.”

The dam broke early Tuesday morning, sending torrents of water into large areas of Kherson in southern Ukraine.

Images of chaos

Ukrainians left their flooded houses one by one.

Residents fled through the flooded streets, carrying children on their shoulders, dogs in their arms and things in plastic bags, and rescuers in rubber boats searched places where the water rose above head level.

“If the water rises another meter, we will lose our home,” he said. Alexander Revawho moved family belongings to a neighbor’s abandoned house on a hill.

The roof of the house turned out to be drifting in the flooded Dnieper River.

The collapse of the dam coincides with an imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive, which is seen as the next major phase of the war.

Residents are waiting for help

Residents on the line of contact with Ukraine, on the Russian side, inspected the damage done to their homes by the flooded waters of the Kakhovka dam and waited for help from the authorities, while others searched the Internet for information about their people.

Russian-appointed officials ordered residents of the three districts to leave their homes due to rising waters.

OUR Vladimir SaldoRussian-appointed governor of occupied Kherson state of emergency in the region. So far they have gone 1500 people According to him, 48 temporary shelters have been created from the flooded settlements.

In the city New Kakhovkabrown water covered them near the dam main streets which are almost empty. On the banks of the Dnieper, next to energy stage, small trees are submerged in water almost to the leaves. In neighborhoods, locals stand next to their flooded cars, knee-deep in water.

OUR Valery MelnikThe 53-year-old inspects what was rescued from his home. A refrigerator and a green sofa stand in the water, and valuables lie on a raised platform.

“We are waiting for the water to come down, then we will drain them,” he said. He added that he hoped some help would arrive from the local authorities to pump the water, but “so far they are not doing anything.”

According to the appointed mayor of Moscow, Mr. Vladimir Leontievabout 100 people are blocked in the city.

By noon, the water level in Novaya Kakhovka began to decline, he said in an interview on his Telegraph channel. Six hundred houses, a kindergarten, a school and a monastery were also flooded. 900 people evacuatedhe added.

Previously, Leontiev said that every second flow from the reservoir 30,000 cubic meters of water and the city is at risk of infection due to flooding, according to the TASS news agency.

Many people told Reuters that they were unable to contact relatives in the flooded areas and looked for information on online newsgroups.

A little further in the village Old Zburovkaresidents help each other to sail away in small boats, she said. Katea woman from an area now living outside of Ukraine.

In her village discussion group, residents reported that the water was chest-deep. Approx. 20 peoplehe added. “No one understands how much it hurts when your childhood home goes under water. There are animals and old people there. I hope they will be rescued quickly,” Katya said.

Russia’s attack on the Kakhovskaya HPP caused the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in recent decades pic.twitter.com/eVmzb03kk6

— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Center (@StratcomCentre) June 7, 2023