Russia-Ukraine war live updates: thousands evacuated as UN says scale of dam disaster will only be clear in coming days – latest news

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The ISW has also looked at the available information on whether there is a threat to the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which seems to be less acute than initially feared, it reports.

The plant will have sufficient water for cooling for “some months”, International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi said.

The ISW quotes Grassi and other officials:

IAEA Director Rafael Grossi reported that the drop in the water level at the Kakhovka Reservoir poses “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant” and that IAEA personnel at the ZNPP are closely monitoring the situation. Grossi stated that the ZNPP is pumping water into its cooling channels and related systems, and that the large cooling pond next to the ZNPP will be “sufficient to provide water for cooling for some months.”

Ukrainian nuclear energy operator Energoatom’s President Petro Kotin stated that the fall in the water level at the Kakhovka Reservoir does not directly impact the water level in the ZNPP cooling pond and noted that the ZNPP pool basins are still at the same water level.

Ukrainian Chief Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety Oleh Korikov stated that the decrease in water level at the Kakhovka Reservoir will not affect the condition of the ZNPP provided that ZNPP personnel implement established safety measures.

The Institute for the Study of War has published its report on the dam’s collapse. The US thinktank says, it “has not yet observed clear evidence of what transpired at the KHPP on June 6 and is therefore unable to offer an independent assessment of responsibility at the time of this publication.”

But, it added, “Statements by US and European officials are generally consistent with ISW’s October 2022 forecast that the Russians have a greater and clearer interest in flooding the lower Dnipro despite the damage to their own prepared defensive positions and forces than the Ukrainians.”

In October 2022 the USW said that “Russia may use the flooding to widen the Dnipro River and complicate Ukrainian counteroffensive attempts across the already-challenging water feature.”

In its update, it says that “Russian sources have expressed intense and explicit concern over the possibility that Ukraine has been preparing to cross the river and counterattack into east bank Kherson Oblast. Available footage from June 6, corroborated by claims made by Russian [military bloggers], suggests that the flooding washed away Ukrainian positions near the Dnipro shoreline and forced Ukrainian formations to evacuate while under Russian artillery fire.”

Reporters for the Associated Press are on the ground as evacuations are take place. They have filed this report:

In the early morning, before the floodwaters arrived, many residents tried to stick it out. But as the water level climbed in the streets, rising nearly to the tops of bus stops or the second floor of buildings, national guard teams and emergency crews fanned out to retrieve people who got stranded.

Some found themselves floating under the rafters of their homes as the waters rose. Space was limited on the trucks, and an effort to tow two rafts behind one went awry when the ropes snapped. One man chucked his German shepherd from the roof of the stalled truck onto another. Some residents clung to each other to keep from falling into the rising tide.

Officials said about 22,000 people live in areas at risk of flooding in Russian-controlled areas on the eastern side of the river, while 16,000 live in the most critical zone in Ukrainian-held territory on the western side — areas like those evacuated on Tuesday.

The United Nations said at least 16,000 people have already lost their homes, and efforts were underway to provide clean water, money, and legal and emotional support to those affected. Evacuations on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the river were ferrying people to cities including Mykolaiv and Odesa to the west.

Amnesty International’s regional director for Eastern Europe says that the dam’s destruction is a “huge humanitarian disaster”.

“While towns and villages in downstream Dnieper River are going under water, the human and environmental cost of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam is a huge humanitarian disaster — and the international community must unite to bring those responsible to justice,” said Marie Struthers.

“The rules of international humanitarian law specifically protect dams, due to the dangers their destruction poses to civilians,” she said.

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian envoy to the UN, claimed Ukraine had committed an unthinkable crime. His main supportive evidence was an article in the Washington Post in which Andriy Kovalchuk, Ukraine’s southern commander, claimed Ukraine had tested strikes on the dam.

Nebenzya said the west was responsible for a coordinated disinformation campaign full of flawed logic that “reeks of schizophrenia and not of a latent variety”. He said the attack was part of an effort to distract from Ukraine’s clearly bogged down military offensive that was failing to meet its objectives.

“We are deeply bewildered that the UN secretariat repeatedly fails to condemn the attacks perpetrated by the Kyiv regime citing insufficient information. The secretary’s leadership does not hesitate to replicate politicised conclusions that suggest all such crimes are as a result of Russia’s actions in Ukraine,” he said.

Neither the French, US or British representatives at the UN directly said there was evidence of Russian responsibility, but called for an investigation and insisted their support for Ukraine was unwavering.

Outside the UN security council chamber on Tuesday, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said: “We’re not certain at all, we hope to have more information in the coming days.

“But, I mean, come on … why would Ukraine do this to its own territory and people, flood its land, force tens of thousands of people to leave their homes – it doesn’t make sense.”

Russia’s UN envoy was accused of floundering in a “mud of lies” after he claimed at an emergency session of the security council that Ukraine destroyed Kakhovka dam in a “war crime”.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukraine envoy to the UN, said it was typical of Russia to blame the victim for its own crimes, pointing out Russia has been in control of the dam for more than a year and it was physically impossible to blow it up by shelling. He said the dam was mined by the Russian occupiers and they blew it up. He accused Russia of “floundering again in the mud of lies”.

“By resorting to scorched earth tactics, or in this case to flooded earth tactics, the Russian occupiers have effectively recognised that the captured territory does not belong to them, and they are not able to hold these lands,” Kyslytsya said.

A satellite photo Tuesday morning by Planet Labs PBC analysed by The Associated Press shows more than 600 meters (over 1,900 feet) missing from the wall of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

A video shared by Euromaidan Press shows a house collapsing into floodwaters:

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the UN security council that “the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realised in the coming days.”

“But it’s already clear that it will have grave and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine on both sides of the front line through the loss of homes, food, safe water and livelihoods,” he added.

This is Helen Sullivan bringing you the latest from the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the attack on Nova Kakhovka dam.

I’ll be with you for the next while. If you see news you think we may have missed, have questions, or live near Nova Kakhovka dam get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Meanwhile China and Russia have conducted a joint air patrol on Tuesday over the Sea of Japan and East China Sea for a sixth time since 2019, prompting neighbouring South Korea and Japan to scramble fighter jets, Reuters reports.

China’s defence ministry said the patrol was part of the two militaries’ annual cooperation plan. South Korea scrambled fighter jets, according to its military, after four Russian and four Chinese military aircraft entered its air defence zone in the south and east of the Korean peninsula.

Japan’s military said it had scrambled fighter jets after verifying that two Russian bombers had joined two Chinese bombers over the Sea of Japan and flown together as far as the East China Sea, where they were joined by two Chinese fighter planes.

Here are images showing damage to the dam:

Satellite images taken on Tuesday afternoon by Maxar Technologies showed extensive flooding in southern Ukraine with the region’s Nova Kahkovka dam and hydroelectric station largely destroyed.

This image was taken before homes were flooded:

In this image shows large sections of the area under water:

Maxar said the images of more than 2,500 square km (965 square miles) between Nova Kakhovka and the Dniprovska Gulf southwest of Kherson city on the Black Sea, showed numerous towns and villages flooded.

“The Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant has been largely destroyed and few structures remain,” Maxar said in a statement.

The satellite images show houses and buildings submerged in water, with many having only their roofs showing, and water taking over parks, land and infrastructure.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the breaching of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has told the United Nations security council that “the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realised in the coming days.”

“But it’s already clear that it will have grave and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine on both sides of the front line through the loss of homes, food, safe water and livelihoods,” he added.

Here is a summary of recent developments to bring you up to date:

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has condemned the attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russia-occupied south of his country as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction”. Zelenskiy made the claim in his nightly video address to the nation on Tuesday, adding that only liberation of the whole of Ukraine from the Russian invasion could guarantee against new “terrorist” acts. “Such deliberate destruction by the Russian occupiers and other structures of the hydroelectric power station is an environmental bomb of mass destruction,” he said.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that if the bursting of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine on Tuesday was proven to be intentional, it would represent a “new low” in Russian aggression, BBC reporter Chris Mason tweeted.Sunak said the UK’s military and intelligence agencies were looking into the blast and it was too soon to pre-empt the cause and make a definitive judgment, while he was travelling to Washington for his upcoming meeting with Joe Biden, BBC’s Mason said.

US military chief Milley said Ukraine is “well prepared” for a counteroffensive. The senior US military leader, chair of the joint chiefs General Mark Milley, says that while few conclusions can be drawn from an increase of fighting in Ukraine, the country is ‘well prepared’ to carry on the battle against the Russian invasion. But he also cautions the war will be “lengthy”.

Zelenskiy’s chief of staff says he “does not understand” how there are any doubts that Russian forces blew up the dam. In a statement, Andriy Yermak said: “At 2.50am, Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and its dam. I do not understand how there can be any doubt about this. Both constructions are located in the temporary Russian-occupied territories. Neither shelling nor any other external influence was capable of destroying the structures. The explosion came from within.”

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of deliberately sabotaging the dam. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, told reporters: “We can state unequivocally that we are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side.” He said [Russian president] Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the situation.

The US “cannot say conclusively” who was responsible. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House: “We’re doing the best we can to assess”, noting “destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed by the laws of war”. Earlier Tuesday, NBC News reported that the US government had intelligence indicating Russia was behind the incident, according to two US officials and one western official.

The Ukrainian government called for people living downstream to evacuate in the face of catastrophic flooding. Energy companyUkrahydroenergo said the hydroelectric power plant at the dam had been blown up from the inside and was irreparable.

The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said about 16,000 people were in the “critical zone” on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the river. The areas most under threat of flooding are the islands along the course of the Dnipro downstream of Nova Kakhovka and much of the Russian-held left bank in southern Kherson. 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.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry called for an urgent meeting of UN security council to discuss what it called a Russian “terrorist act against Ukrainian critical infrastructure”.

There seems to be no immediate safety threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam 200km downstream, according to Ukrainian and UN experts. Water from the reservoir affected by the destruction of the dam is used to supply the plant’s cooling systems.