Flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam left 77 injured and forced the evacuation of at least 7,000 people from the Kherson region of eastern Ukraine, Russian authorities said.
Russia-mandated Kerhson’s interim governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on Saturday that 323 were children and 112 people with reduced mobility were among those evacuated.
Ukraine❤️
The people of #Kherson on boats rescuing animals that are blocked or unable to overcome a water obstacle. pic.twitter.com/AXwJ9n8re6
– My home is Ukraine❤️ (@home_fella) June 6, 2023
“About 1,500 people are in temporary shelters, 77 people from the affected areas have been admitted to medical facilities in the region,” added Saldo.
In a message published on the Telegram platform, the leader accused the Ukrainian army of bombing areas where authorities are carrying out rescue operations and “other emergency work”.
Also on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the Russian army’s bombing of several civilian evacuation points in the Kyiv-controlled areas of Kherson.
Zelensky admitted the existence of “counter-offensive actions” by the Ukrainian army at the front, but without clarifying whether this is the major attack prepared by Kiev several months ago.
Vladimir Saldo assured that the water level in Kherson continues to fall and that authorities are “actively working” to remove the water from the basements of houses, clean the streets and restore energy supplies and basic sanitation.
Russian hydroelectric company RusHydro predicted on Saturday that water in the Dnieper River will return to normal on June 16, at least in the lower part of Kakhovka, where the dam was partially destroyed on Tuesday.
Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the destruction of the dam built on the Dnieper River in the 1950s, which is already considered one of Europe’s worst industrial and environmental disasters in recent decades.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is “extremely worse” than before the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, with 700,000 people without access to clean water, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths warned Friday.
According to information also released by Ukrainian and Russian authorities on Friday, the floods have already claimed 13 deaths.
Source: DN
