Russia-Ukraine war live: evacuations under way near Kherson after destruction of dam prompts flooding

Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh report from Kyiv for the Guardian:

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The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River, and called for people living downstream to evacuate in the face of catastrophic flooding.

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As aerial footage circulated on social media, showing most of the dam wall washed away and a massive surge of water heading downstream, the army’s Southern Operational Command put up a Facebook post, accusing “Russian occupation troops” of blowing up the hydroelectric dam.

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The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that about 16,000 people were in the “critical zone” on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the Dnieper. He said people were being evacuated for districts upstream of Kherson city and would be taken to bus to the city and then by train to Mykolaiv, and on to other Ukrainian cities.

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The disaster happened on the second day of Ukrainian offensive operations likely to mark the early stages of a mass counteroffensive. It could affect any Ukrainian plans for an amphibious assault across the Dnieper.

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Local Russian authorities in the town of Nova Kakhovka initially denied that anything had happened to the dam, then blamed the collapse on Ukrainian shelling. Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed official from the Kherson emergency services as saying that the dam had collapsed from structural weakness under water pressure.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called an emergency meeting of his national security council on Tuesday in the wake of the disaster.

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The areas most under threat of flooding are the islands along the course of the Dnieper downstream of Nova Kakhovka and much of the Russian-held left bank in southern Kherson. Earlier modelling of such a disaster suggested Kherson city would not take the brunt of the flood, but the harbour, the docklands and an island in the south of the city are likely to be inundated. It is unclear how many people would lose their homes.

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There could be two further dramatic side effects, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant upstream could lose access to water for cooling as the reservoir drains away, and the water supply to Crimea could also be severely affected.

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Read more here: Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up Nova Kakhovka dam near Kherson

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Anton Gerashchenko, a former minister and an adviser to the interior ministry, has suggested on social media that about 16,000 people may be affected by any potential flood from the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

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About 16,000 people are in “critical zone” in Kherson region on the right bank of the Dnieper river – head of Kherson regional military administration.

Evacuation trains will take people to safety from Kherson. pic.twitter.com/rmltVcc9yI

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 6, 2023

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The video footage in his tweet has not been independently verified by the Guardian.

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Energoatom, the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, has responded to the damage to the dam, saying it “may have negative consequences for the [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant], but the situation is under control”.

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It has blamed the dam’s flooding on Russian forces, saying, “On the night of June 6, 2023, the Russian invaders blew up the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP.”

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It explained that the “rapidly decreasing” water levels in the reservoir posed an “additional threat to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP.”

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For now, however, the nuclear power station’s cooling pond was full, it said.

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Water from the Kakhovsky reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP. The station’s cooling pond is now full: as of 8am, the water level is 16.6 metres, which is sufficient for the station’s needs.

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Energoatom monitors the situation and follows the actions of workers at the ZNPP together with other international organisations present at the plant, in particular, the IAEA.

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Any changes will be promptly notified.

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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has suggested that what he called the “destruction” of the Nova Kakhovka dam was the fault of “Russian terrorists”.

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Zelenskiy said in a post on Twitter, “The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land. Not a single metre should be left to them, because they use every metre for terror.”

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He added: “All services are working. I have convened the national security and defence council.”

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Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land. Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror. It’s only… pic.twitter.com/ErBog1gRhH

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 6, 2023

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In May, residents in a nearby village reported ongoing flooding which they blamed on Russia’s occupation of Nova Kakhovka. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, locals said that the water-level had begun to rise in April, sometimes by up to 30 cm a day, and had remained elevated since.

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Ukrainian officials said that the “rise of the Dnieper’s water level, as a result of which settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region were flooded, is linked to the Russian occupation of the Kakhovka dam”.

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But they added that they were unable to say what exactly Russian forces were doing at the dam because they did not have access themselves.

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A Russian energy official also warned in May that the dam risked being overwhelmed by record-high water levels.

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If you’re just joining us, a vast Soviet-era dam in the Russian controlled part of southern Ukraine was blown on Tuesday, unleashing a flood of water across the war zone, according to both Ukrainian and Russian forces.

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Both sides blamed the other for destroying the dam.

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This is Helen Sullivan with the latest. You can get in touch with me on Twitter here.

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Here is what we know so far:

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• Unverified videos on social media showed water surging through the remains of the dam with bystanders expressing their shock.

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• Ukraine’s National Police urged people in affected villages to evacuate. The police force named the villages of Mykolaivka, Olhivka, Lyovo, Tyaginka, Poniativka, Ivanovka, Tokarivka, Poniativka, Prydniprovske, Sadove and partly the city of Kherson – Korabel Island. “Units of the National Police and the State Emergency Service of the Kherson region were alerted to alert and evacuate the civilian population from potential flooding zones on the right bank of the Dnieper River” the police force said on Telegram.

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• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold an emergency meeting, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said on Twitter on Tuesday.

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• Russian news agency Tass reports, citing emergency services, that 80 settlements may be affected by flooding. The damage to the dam will also lead to problems with water supplies to Crimea, Tass cites the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka as saying.

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• The dam, 30 metres (yards) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnieper river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. It holds a reservoir of about the same volume as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.

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• Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces blew up the dam. “The Kakhovka (dam) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces,” the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday on its Facebook page. “The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified.”

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• Russian news agencies said the dam, controlled by Russian forces, had been destroyed in shelling while a Russian-installed official said it was a terrorist attack – Russian shorthand for an attack by Ukraine.

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Russia’s destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine represents an “ecocide”, but national and regional officials are working to ensure the safety of local residents, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration said on Tuesday.

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Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram that Russia’s actions also present a threat to the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, without elaborating

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Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Nova Kakhovka dam has been earmarked as a potential target for both its strategic importance – as well as the damage that its destruction would unleash. It was captured by Russia at the start of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, and has been held by it ever since.

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In October, as Ukraine was in the midst of reclaiming large parts of occupied Kherson, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the west to warn Russia not to blow up the dam, warning that it would flood a large area of southern Ukraine. At the time, he claimed that Russian forces had planted explosives inside the dam.

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Zelenskiy said “destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster,” and compared such an act to the use of weapons of mass destruction.

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Ukraine military intelligence said “the scale of the ecological disaster [would] go far beyond the borders of Ukraine and affect the entire Black Sea region”.

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At the same time, Russia accused Kyiv of rocketing the dam and planning to destroy it.

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After Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November, images emerged of some significant damage to the dam. Russia had accused Ukraine of shelling the dam in its campaign to recapture Kherson.

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Ukraine’s National Security Council has announced that Zelenskiy will hold an emergency meeting over the dam blast.

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Russian news agency Tass reports, citing emergency services, that 80 settlements may be affected by flooding.

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The damage to the dam will also lead to problems with water supplies to Crimea, Tass cites the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka as saying.

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Ukraine’s National Police force are asking people in affected villages to evacuate.

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The Police said on Telegram a moment ago:

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Units of the National Police and the State Emergency Service of the Kherson region were alerted to alert and evacuate the civilian population from potential flooding zones on the right bank of the Dnieper River, namely: the villages of Mykolaivka, Olhivka, Lyovo, Tyaginka, Poniativka, Ivanovka, Tokarivka, Poniativka, Prydniprovske, Sadove and partly the city of Kherson – Korabel Island.

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The water level is rising and everyone who is in the danger zone must:

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🔹turn off all electrical appliances

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🔹take documents and essentials

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🔹take care of loved ones and pets

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🔹 follow the instructions of rescuers and policemen.

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Here is a summary of what we know so far, via Reuters:

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• A vast Soviet-era dam in the Russian controlled part of southern Ukraine was blown on Tuesday, unleashing a flood of water across the war zone, according to both Ukrainian and Russian forces. Both sides blamed the other for destroying the dam.

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• The dam, 30 metres (yards) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnieper river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. It holds a reservoir of about the same volume as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.

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• Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces blew up the dam. “The Kakhovka (dam) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces,” the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday on its Facebook page. “The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified.”

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• Russian news agencies said the dam, controlled by Russian forces, had been destroyed in shelling while a Russian-installed official said it was a terrorist attack – Russian shorthand for an attack by Ukraine.

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The dam traverses Ukraine’s enormous Dnieper River, holding back an enormous reservoir of water. The dam itself is 30 metres tall and hundreds of metres wide. It was built in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

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The enormous reservoir that it contains holds about the same volume as the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Bursting the dam could send a wall of water flooding settlements below it, including Kherson, which Ukrainian forces recaptured in late 2022.

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Water from the reservoir supplies the Crimean peninsula to the south – which was annexed by Russia in 2014 – as well as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – Europe’s largest – to the north.

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It also helps power the Kakhovka hydro-electric plant. Destroying the dam would add to Ukraine’s ongoing energy problems, after Russia spent weeks earlier this year targeting vital infrastructure.

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It would also wreck the canal system that irrigates much of southern Ukraine, including Crimea.

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The large Nova Kakhovka Dam in the Russia-controlled parts of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine was destroyed and the territory is flooding, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed source close to the matter.

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A second state news agency RIA cited the Moscow-installed Mayor of Nova Kakhovka as saying that the upper part of the dam was destroyed by shelling.

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The mayor earlier denied that that the dam had been blown up. Tass then quoted him as saying that the destruction of the dam was a “serious terrorist act”.

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Neither Reuters nor the Guardian were able to independently verify the reports.

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Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region, has posted a video to Telegram in which he says that as a result of the damage to the Nova Kahhovka dam, “water will reach a critical level in 5 hours” and that evacuations have begun.

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The translation of the video was obtained via Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

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Gerashchenko posted the video from Prokudin’s Telegram, with the text:

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The water will reach a critical level in 5 hours, the evacuation has begun – the head of Kherson OVA

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As Alexander Prokudin reported, local residents have already begun to be evacuated from potential flood areas. He confirmed that the [Russians] had blown up the Kakhovskaya HPP and called for them to leave the dangerous places as soon as possible.

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The Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region was blown up by Russian forces, the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday.

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“The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified,” the command said on its Facebook page.

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Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

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In breaking news: Ukraine’s Southern Military command has accused Russia of “blowing up” the Nova Kakhovka dam near Kherson, “likely” causing flooding. The Guardian has not been able to verify the claim.

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Unverified video footage shared on social media on Tuesday morning appeared to show a large amount of water flowing out of the dam.

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The mayor of Nova Kahhovka, a city in Russia-controlled parts of the Ukrainian region of Kherson, denied social media reports that the dam was blown up, Russia’s state RIA news agency reported early on Tuesday.

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Russian and Ukrainian social media reported widely in early hours on Tuesday that the dam was destroyed. Neither Reuters nor the Guardian have been able to independently verify the reports.

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We’ll have more information shortly.

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Here are the other key recent developments in the war:

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• Ukraine’s deputy defence minister has confirmed that in some areas Kyiv’s forces are moving to “offensive actions”, heightening speculation that a counteroffensive is close to launch.

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• Russia claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified. The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions from two brigades.

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• The ministry claimed 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed. It also claimed that Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, had been near the frontlines when the attack was repelled. The Russian defence ministry has consistently made exaggerated claims about the casualties its forces have inflicted.

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• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed on Monday what he called “the news we have been waiting for” from troops in Bakhmut, but gave no further details. “I am grateful to each soldier, to all our defenders, men and women, who have given us today the news we have been waiting for. Fine job, soldiers in the Bakhmut sector!” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

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• The US imposed sanctions on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury department said. The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said. They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organised the plot to destabilise the government of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, earlier this year.

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• The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv. They discussed preparations for the Nato summit in Lithuania next month and Ukraine’s plan for ending Russia’s invasion. During the meeting, Cleverly said: “Ukraine will win this war and can count on our support.”

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• Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, said three people were killed in the region yesterday as a result of Russian attacks.

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• Two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, in the Russian region of Kaluga, just south of Moscow, the region’s governor has said. There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.

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• Poland’s agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September, he said on Monday.

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• Belgium will ask Ukraine for clarification on reports that rifles made in Belgium had been used by pro-Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops inside Russia’s western border, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Monday.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former minister and president of the Kyiv School of Economics, notes that the peak water from the breach of the dam would be expected at 11am local time (9am BST). He suggests that the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River is more at risk.

Andrey Alekseyenko, one of the Russian-installed officials in occupied Kherson, has posted to Telegram to say that up to 22,000 people are in the flood plains in Russian-controlled territory, but that “everything is under control”.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that the Ukrainian military claims to have shot down a Russian Ka-52 helicopter in the direction of Shakhtarsk on Monday, citing the general staff.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Here is my colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy on why the dam is so significant and poses such a threat:

The dam traverses Ukraine’s enormous Dnipro River, holding back a huge reservoir of water. The dam is 30 metres tall and hundreds of metres wide. It was built in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

The reservoir it contains holds an estimated 18 cubic kilometres of water, about the same volume as the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Bursting the dam could send a wall of water flooding settlements below it, including Kherson, which Ukrainian forces recaptured in late 2022.

Soon after Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the dam, the head of the Kherson region urged residents to evacuate the area, warning that “water will reach a critical level in five hours”.

Water from the reservoir supplies the Crimean peninsula to the south, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, to the north.

It also helps power the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant. Destroying the dam would add to Ukraine’s ongoing energy problems, after Russia spent weeks earlier this year targeting vital infrastructure.

It would also probably wreck the canal system that irrigates much of southern Ukraine, including Crimea.

Read more here: Nova Kakhovka Dam – everything you need to know about Ukraine’s strategically important reservoir

Anton Gerashchenko, a former minister and an adviser to the interior ministry, has suggested on social media that about 16,000 people may be affected by any potential flood from the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

The video footage in his tweet has not been independently verified by the Guardian.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has said that “only force” can solve the “global threat” posed by Russia, in a message on the Telegram app. He posted:

The destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP is the largest man-made disaster in the world in recent decades, which kills the environment and will negatively affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the years to come.

The insane goal of stopping the defence forces’ advance and avoiding defeat and disgrace drives Kremlin criminals. They are willing to do anything to raise the stakes in this war.

Today’s Russia is a global threat. Only force can solve this problem.

• This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at [email protected].

I’m handing over to my colleague Martin Belam who will bring you the latest from the aftermath of this very distressing development in the war.

Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister has called the destruction of the dam “probably Europe’s largest technological disaster in decades” and a “heinous war crime”:

The Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief has shared modelling done previously on how the dam’s destruction is likely to affect Kherson:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the destruction of the dam is to slow down military action further downstream. A large body of water behind a low-lying dam could cause a long-lasting flood that is not going to end in a couple of days.”

Restoration of the dam is “not going to be a quick fix”, Chanson says.

Repair will include blocking the bridge and the opening in the dam, typically by dumping rocks or concrete blocks.

“To do so would be a matter of civil engineering,” he says. “You can only do so if in a secure environment, if one party is in charge of the dam and has access to the dam site.”

Energoatom, the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, has responded to the damage to the dam, saying it “may have negative consequences for the [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant], but the situation is under control”.

It has blamed the dam’s flooding on Russian forces, saying, “On the night of June 6, 2023, the Russian invaders blew up the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP.”

It explained that the “rapidly decreasing” water levels in the reservoir posed an “additional threat to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP.”

For now, however, the nuclear power station’s cooling pond was full, it said.

Water from the Kakhovsky reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP. The station’s cooling pond is now full: as of 8am, the water level is 16.6 metres, which is sufficient for the station’s needs.

Energoatom monitors the situation and follows the actions of workers at the ZNPP together with other international organisations present at the plant, in particular, the IAEA.

Any changes will be promptly notified.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has suggested that what he called the “destruction” of the Nova Kakhovka dam was the fault of “Russian terrorists”.

Zelenskiy said in a post on Twitter, “The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land. Not a single metre should be left to them, because they use every metre for terror.”

He added: “All services are working. I have convened the national security and defence council.”

In May, residents in a nearby village reported ongoing flooding which they blamed on Russia’s occupation of Nova Kakhovka. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, locals said that the water-level had begun to rise in April, sometimes by up to 30 cm a day, and had remained elevated since.

Ukrainian officials said that the “rise of the Dnieper’s water level, as a result of which settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region were flooded, is linked to the Russian occupation of the Kakhovka dam”.

But they added that they were unable to say what exactly Russian forces were doing at the dam because they did not have access themselves.

A Russian energy official also warned in May that the dam risked being overwhelmed by record-high water levels.

This unverified footage reportedly shows the view from the top of the dam’s generator hall: