🔴 Live: Zelensky visits flooded region of Kherson after Kakhovka dam breach

Issued on: 08/06/2023 – 08:46Modified: 08/06/2023 – 10:13

10:40am: Zelensky visits flooded region of Kherson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the flood-hit southern region of Kherson on Thursday as evacuations continued after the destruction of a major Russian-held dam on the front line.

Zelensky said he held a “working trip to Kherson region” where he discussed the “evacuation of the population from potential flood zones, elimination of the emergency caused by the dam explosion, (and the) organisation of life support for the flooded areas”.

Zelensky praised the efforts from rescuers and volunteers who were continuing to evacuate residents from the Kherson region.

“In Kherson, I visited a crossing point where people are being evacuated from flooded areas. Our task is to protect lives and help people as much as possible. I thank the rescuers and volunteers! I thank everyone involved in this work!” Zelensky said. 

10:12am: Five dead after Ukraine dam burst, reports RIA citing Russian-installed mayor

The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka said on Thursday that five people had died after the nearby Kakhovka dam burst on Tuesday, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

9:57am: Russia’s Patrushev met Lukashenko in Minsk for security discussions, RIA reports 

The secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit to Minsk, where the two men discussed security issues, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported on Thursday.

9:21am: South Africa’s Ramaphosa discusses African peace mission with Putin

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa had a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin where he briefed him on the upcoming African leaders peace mission to Russia and Ukraine, the South African presidency said on Thursday.

Putin expressed his desire to receive the peace mission, the presidency statement said.

9:19am: IAEA’s Grossi says watchdog plans to rotate inspectors at Zaporizhzhia next week, RIA reports 

The United Nations nuclear chief Rafael Grossi said on Thursday that the watchdog intends to rotate inspectors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant next week, but that plans must be agreed with Russian and Ukrainian authorities, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

8:26am: Flooding over 600 square kilometres after Kakhovka dam breach, Ukraine says

Flooding from the Kakhovka dam breach extends over 600 square kilometres on the Ukrainian-held right bank of the Dnipro River and the Russian-held left bank, the region’s governor said on Thursday.

“The average level of flooding is 5.61 metres. 600 square kilometres of the Kherson region are under water, of which 32 percent is the right bank and 68 percent is the left bank,” Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the Kherson region, said on social media.

05:05am: World Bank to assess damage after Ukraine dam destruction

The World Bank will support Ukraine by conducting a rapid assessment of damage and needs after Tuesday’s destruction of a huge hydroelectric dam on the front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces, a top bank official said on Wednesday.

Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s managing director for operations, said on Twitter the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam had “many very serious consequences for essential service delivery and the broader environment”.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, also writing on Twitter, said he spoke with Bjerde about the impact of the dam’s collapse, and she assured him the World Bank would carry out a rapid assessment of the damage and needs.

Ukrainians abandoned inundated homes on Wednesday as floods crested across the south after the destruction of the dam, with Russia and Ukraine trading blame for the disaster.

Ukraine said the deluge would leave hundreds of thousands of people without access to drinking water, swamp tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land and turn at least 500,000 hectares deprived of irrigation into “deserts”.

Bjerde said the new damage assessment would build on the bank’s previous analysis of damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure and buildings, which estimated that it would cost $411 billion to rebuild Ukraine’s economy after Russia’s invasion.

10:35pm: Dam destruction increases mine threat, says Red Cross

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday.

“We knew where the hazards were,” said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “Now we don’t know. All we know is that they are somewhere downstream.”

“This is a major concern because it will affect not just the population, but also all of those that are coming in to help,” he added.

The ICRC had spent several months helping mine clearance operations in Ukraine, mapping and marking minefields and providing training and equipment, said Tollefsen.

“Now all of that has been washed away.”

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

Key developments from Wednesday, June 7:

Following a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron said that France would send aid to Ukraine “within the next few hours”. Earlier in the day, newly re-elected Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erodgan proposed creating an international commission to probe the destruction of the Karkhova dam in a call with Volodymyr Zelensky. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that he would chair a meeting on Thursday of an emergency coordination panel with Ukraine on the “outrageous destruction” of the Karkhova dam. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)