FLASH
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Damage to the Kakhovka dam has led to the flooding of 29 villages along the Dnipro River. As a result, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, as the situation is expected to worsen in the coming hours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says hundreds of thousands of people have been left without drinking water. Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of damaging the dam. Zelensky considered it an "ecocide", on the other hand, Vladimir Putin called it a "barbaric attack".
"One of the most important environmental catastrophes in Europe in recent decades," Zelensky said.
"Environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a large scale," says the Kremlin.
The affected areas extend from Nova Kakhovka to the vicinity of the Kosheva river bank. Ukraine has declared a state of emergency, as Russian media reports that several people are missing.
Zelensky is demanding an international investigation into the incident, foreign media write.
"When Ukraine has regained control of the dam, we will collect evidence. What is happening now is a tragedy. An environmental disaster and a human disaster," Zelensky said.
Zelensky made it clear that he sees Russia as responsible for the incident.
"This happened in an occupied territory", emphasized the Ukrainian president. According to him, Russia probably underestimated the action, since they did not think that it would affect their occupied territories.
A year ago he pointed out that the dam was being mined and that there was a great danger that it would be blown up.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on the finding of landmines in the affected region. Foreign media write that according to specialists downstream from the dam in the Kherson region "there were many of what we call defensive minefields laid by the parties to the conflict."
According to them, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines like TM-57 will now be distributed in unknown places. The ICRC does not know how many mines may have been submerged or washed away by flood waters.
"We knew where the dangers were, now we don't know. This is a big concern because it will affect not only the population, but also all those who are coming to help," said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapons Contamination at the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Ukraine's Kakhovka dam in Russian-controlled territory was destroyed by an attack, flooding dozens of villages and parts of a nearby town and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.
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