KHERSON, Ukraine – Ukrainians abandoned inundated homes as floodwaters crested across a swathe of the south on Wednesday, June 7, after the destruction of aon the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces that each blamed on the other.
The Nova Kakhovka dam disaster coincides with a looming, long-vaunted counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces against Russia’s invasion, seen as the next major phase of the war. The sides traded blame for continued shelling across the flood zone and warned of drifting landmines unearthed by the flooding.
Residents in the flood zone in the country’s south, which stretches to the Dnipro estuary on the Black Sea, blamed the bursting of the dam on Russian troops who controlled it from their positions on the opposite bank. Valery Melnik, 53, said he had hoped for help from local authorities to pump out the water from his swamped home, but so far “they are not doing anything”.
“The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realized in the coming days,” United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council.