KHERSON: Hundreds of Ukrainians were rescued from rooftops in the flood-stricken south region of Kherson on Thursday after the destruction of a dam submerged villages, fields and roads, as Kyiv dismissed reports a counteroffensive had begun. The region’s governor said some 600sqkm were under water.
NBC news, citing a senior officer and a soldier near the front lines, said the offensive had begun. Washington Post cited “four individuals” in the armed forces saying the same thing. Asked about the reports, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said: “We have no such information”. Britain’s defence ministry reported heavy fighting along “multiple sectors of the front”, adding that Kyiv held the initiative in most areas.
Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the bursting of the Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam. Moscowand Kyiv also accused each other on Thursday of shelling the area as rescue workers in rubber dinghies tried to save people and animals from the still rising flood waters. Russian shelling killed a civilian in Kherson city, about 60 km downstream from the dam, on Thursday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. The Kremlin similarly accused Ukraine of shelling Russian rescue workers in the area. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had repelled overnight attempts by Ukrainian forces to break through the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region adjacent to Kherson.
NBC news, citing a senior officer and a soldier near the front lines, said the offensive had begun. Washington Post cited “four individuals” in the armed forces saying the same thing. Asked about the reports, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said: “We have no such information”. Britain’s defence ministry reported heavy fighting along “multiple sectors of the front”, adding that Kyiv held the initiative in most areas.
Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the bursting of the Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam. Moscowand Kyiv also accused each other on Thursday of shelling the area as rescue workers in rubber dinghies tried to save people and animals from the still rising flood waters. Russian shelling killed a civilian in Kherson city, about 60 km downstream from the dam, on Thursday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. The Kremlin similarly accused Ukraine of shelling Russian rescue workers in the area. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had repelled overnight attempts by Ukrainian forces to break through the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region adjacent to Kherson.