🔴Live: Russia repels Ukrainian attack on warship in Black Sea, says defence ministry

Issued on: 11/06/2023 – 13:50

3:32pm: 35 people missing after Ukraine flood, minister says 

Thirty five people, including seven children, were missing in southern Ukraine on Sunday following a devastating flood prosecutors called the “worst environmental catastrophe since Chernobyl.”

The Russian-controlled Kakhovka dam along the front line in the Kherson region was destroyed on June 6, forcing thousands to flee and sparking fears of humanitarian as well as environmental disasters.

Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro River, while Moscow says Kyiv fired upon the structure.

Ukrainian interior minister Igor Klymenko said that 77 towns and villages had been flooded in the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv. Klymenko said that in the Kherson region 35 people were missing, including seven children. 

As a result of the flood, five people died in the region of Kherson and one person was dead in the region of Mykolaiv.

A total of 3,700 people have been evacuated from their homes in the two regions, the minister added in a statement.

2:46pm: Russian defence ministry says Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet shot down in Kherson region

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in the Kherson region, where the breach of the Kakhovka dam on Tuesday led to major flooding.

Russian forces have also repelled three attacks of Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region, the ministry said.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the reports.

2:40pm: Ukrainian army publishes video showing liberation of village in Donetsk region

A video has appeared on the official Facebook page of the 68th brigade of the Ukrainian army, claiming to show the liberation of a village in the Donetsk region. This is the first claimed official liberation of a village since the start of this phase of counteroffensive operations. This marks a turning point in the war, as the Ukrainians are now officially declaring that they have taken back at least one locality.

FRANCE 24’s correspondent Gulliver Cragg tells us more. 

1:51pm: Russia repels Ukraine attack on warship in Black Sea, says defence ministry

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had made an unsuccessful attempt to attack a vessel of Russia’s Black sea fleet which was protecting natural gas pipelines.

The ship was monitoring the situation along Turkstream and Blue Stream pipelines route in the Black Sea, the ministry said.

11:28am: No foundation for possible dialogue with Ukraine, says the Kremlin

The Kremlin said there was no foundation for any possible dialogue with Ukraine but also that there were no preconditions for potential talks.

‘There is practically no precondition for an agreement at the moment. Moreover, there is no foundation, even flimsy, for any kind of dialogue’, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Rossiya state television.

10:25am: Ukraine says Russian forces blew up dam to prevent offensive

The Khakhovka dam was blown up by Russian forces to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing in the southern Kherson region, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam from inside its associated hydroelectric power station. The site has been under Russian occupation since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion in February last year.

Moscow has blamed the destruction of the dam on Ukraine. Each side has accused the other of shelling civilians as rescue efforts are carried out.

“The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was apparently carried out with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian Defence Forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector,” Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

Key developments from Saturday, June 10:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive operations were taking place in Ukraine while refusing to provide further details.

Nuclear energy agency Energoatom says it has put the last operating reactor at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, into a “cold shutdown” – a safety precaution amid catastrophic flooding from the collapse of the nearby Kakhovka dam.

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

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)