According to information released this Friday by Ukrainian and Russian authorities, floods in southern Ukraine caused by a breach of the Kakhovka dam have already claimed the lives of 13 people.
Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Igor Klymenko reported the death of five people in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Kherson region, and the head of the Russian-occupied zone Volodymyr Saldo reported eight dead.
According to the French news agency AFP, both Klymenko and Saldo have announced preliminary flood reports on their respective accounts on the social network Telegram.
The Ukrainian minister also said that 13 people were missing and that 48 settlements were flooded, including 14 in areas occupied by Russia.
After the dam burst on Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities evacuated 2,400 people from flood-hit areas, Klymenko said.
The head of the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region said that more than 22,700 houses in 17 settlements were flooded.
“According to forecasts, the rise in water may last another 10 days,” he said.
Saldo said 5,800 people have been evacuated since Tuesday from areas flooded by Russian occupation, and 4,000 people have faced the threat of a lack of drinking water.
He also accused the Ukrainian army of bombing the region, “which makes it difficult for rescue teams to work.”
Russia bombed the city of Kherson and part of the region controlled by Ukraine, according to AFP journalists who were present at the scene.
Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of destroying the Kakhovka dam built on the Dnieper in the 1950s.
The dam was captured by Russian troops shortly after their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Later, Ukraine returned the city of Kherson on the right bank of the Dnieper, but further south, on the left bank of the river, control remains in the hands of Russian troops.
Ukraine blamed Russian forces for destroying a dam to launch a counteroffensive, while Russia blamed Ukrainian bombing for the incident.
Not a single independent source can yet say what caused the dam to burst, located in the Russian-occupied zone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the Kherson region on Thursday, said this Friday that hundreds of thousands of people are having difficulty accessing clean water.
“For hundreds of thousands of people in many cities and villages, access to clean water is seriously hindered,” Zelensky also complained in Telegram, AFP quotes.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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