The devastation caused by the Kakhovka dam breach was reflected in the sombre reaction of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky today, as he visited the Kherson region where thousands continue to flee their homes.
The battle-hardened leader appeared uncharacteristically emotional as he took in the scale of the flooding – described as Europe’s worst environmental disaster since Chernobyl.
Close to 20,000 people have been rescued from the resulting deluge, Kyiv confirmed last night. Another 40,000 face evacuation as streets across dozens of settlements have turned into rivers.
As Ukrainians continue to be evacuated from affected areas, the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka said on Russian state TV that five people have died.
Moscow-backed mayor Vladimir Leontyev said those who had died were among seven local residents declared missing following the dam collapse. The two others were found, he said, and efforts were being made to evacuate them.
Aerial photographs show houses submerged by the high water, with people’s homes, livelihoods, belongings and pets now abandoned
Zelensky was flanked by army protection and and military leaders as he assessed the destruction
Chilling aerial photographs show houses submerged by the high water, with people’s homes, livelihoods, belongings and pets now abandoned.
Rescuers were using boats and amphibious vehicles to pluck people from flooded areas.
President Zelensky thanked the brave rescuers and volunteers and said ‘our task is to protect lives and help people as much as possible’.
One woman, Tetiana Omelchenko, 65, said she had waited two days for evacuation from her block of flats and had to climb through a broken window to reach a rescue boat.
‘In my building, the water has reached the third floor and there are still people in there,’ she said.
An employee at Kherson’s meteorological agency, Lora Musiyan, waded into the water to mark the current level: 5.33 metres above the norm.
‘That’s the height of two storeys – you can only survive this on a roof,’ she said.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass, citing emergency services in the occupied region, said that up to 14,000 homes have been flooded and nearly 4,300 people evacuated.
Zelensky appeared to be holding back his emotion as he surveyed the flooded area. He was visiting a crossing point where people are being evacuated
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) speaks to Ihor Klymenko (C-R), head of the National police of Ukraine, during a visit to Kherson
Grain storage sits underwater after the collapsed of the Kakhovka Dam in the Kherson region
Twenty-three people were seen by doctors of which 21 were hospitalised, medical services reported.
President Zelensky also met with advisors to consider how to move forward following the widespread flooding.
He wrote on Telegram: ‘Many important issues were discussed. The operational situation in the region as a result of the disaster, evacuation of the population from potential flood zones, elimination of the emergency caused by the dam explosion, organization of life support for the flooded areas,’ he said on his Telegram channel.
‘Also, the prospects for restoring the region’s ecosystem and the operational military situation in the man-made disaster area.’
The destruction of the dam on the Dnieper River, which separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, is set to displace tens of thousands of people.
Writing on twitter, the deputy foreign minister Andrij Melnyk compared the flood to the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant that sent a radioactive cloud across Europe.
‘The worst environmental disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster. Only this time Moscow deliberately used this weapon of mass destruction against the Ukrainians. Who else wants to negotiate with Putin?’ he wrote.
Homes and industrial buildings are barely visible over the expansive floodwaters in the region
The scale of the devastation caused by the explosion at the Kakhovka dam was laid bare yesterday. Close to 20,000 people had been rescued from the resulting deluge. Another 40,000 face evacuation. Pictured: Flooded streets in Kherson, Ukraine yesterday
A local resident sails on a sup board during an evacuation from a flooded area in Kherson
A local resident swims by a house in a flooded area in Kherson yesterday
A volunteer helps a cat trapped in a flooded home in Kherson, Ukraine yesterday
The cause of the blasts which destroyed the dam are not yet clear, however Ukraine warned late last year that Russian forces had mined the dam as they retreated from Kherson
Ukraine’s state hydroelectric company said the Kakhovka plant was destroyed by an explosion in the engine room – suggesting it was attacked from within rather than by external strikes.
Ukrainian authorities said 17,000 people were being evacuated and a total of 24 villages had been flooded.
‘Over 40,000 people are in danger of being flooded,’ Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said, adding that 25,000 more people needed to be evacuated on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnieper.
‘The evacuation will continue tomorrow and in the coming days – by bus and train,’ presidential adviser Oleksiy Kuleba said late on Tuesday.
Terrifying video shows houses being swept away and entire towns submerged by the deluge.
Village streets and fields near to the dam have been swamped by flooding as a Russia-installed local mayor warned that the water level would continue to rise for another 72 hours and claimed he expected 40ft high floods in some places.
Last October, Zelensky accused Russia of planting mines at the dam, warning that its destruction would spur a new wave of refugees into Europe.
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