At least 16 dead in Kakhovka dam collapse flooding, Kyiv says
CNN —
At least 16 people are dead and 31 are missing in flooding from the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Saturday.
The dam in southern Ukraine collapsed on June 6, destroying villages, flooding farmland and cutting power and clean water supplies to tens of thousands of people.
It is unclear if the dam was deliberately targeted or whether structural failure was behind its collapse.
Kyiv says Russia blew up the dam “in panic” ahead of a planned Ukraine counter-offensive, while Russia accuses Ukraine of launching “mass artillery attacks” on the structure to deprive Crimea of water and provide a distraction from the battlefield.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said 3,614 people had been evacuated from the flooded areas “including 474 children and 80 people with reduced mobility.”
It added that 1,300 houses remained flooded in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
In a Telegram post the same day, Andrey Alekseenko, the Russian-backed head of the government of the Kherson region, gave a higher death toll.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has risen to 29 people,” Alekseenko wrote. “Twelve people in Oleshky, 13 people in Hola Prystan and 4 people in Nova Kakhovka. We will provide the necessary assistance to each family who has lost relatives.”
Local volunteers prepare food for people affected by floods in Kherson on June 11. Celestino Arce/NurPhoto/Reuters A neighborhood of Kherson, Ukraine, remains flooded Saturday, June 10, following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam days earlier. AP Alyona Shkrygalova evacuates from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson on Friday, June 9. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Tetyana, right, hugs her neighbor Hanna as they evacuate from a flooded neighborhood on the bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson on June 9. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Emergency workers respond to a house damaged after Russian shelling in Kherson on June 9. Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters Volunteers evacuate a local resident from a flooded area in Kherson on June 9. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters People evacuating Kherson arrive at a train station in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, June 8. Celestino Arce/NurPhoto/Getty Images Ukrainian servicemen use boats to evacuate people in a flooded neighborhood of Kherson on June 8. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Ukrainian servicemen ride by boat through a flooded neighborhood in Kherson on June 8. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP A woman helps a family rescue their belongings from flooding in Kherson on Wednesday, June 7. Alex Babenko/Getty Images Houses in a flooded Kherson neighborhood on June 7. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Angelina Kopayeva, 12, looks at family photographs that were laid out to dry in her home in Kherson on June 7. Alex Babenko/Getty Images A woman is evacuated from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson. Roman Hrytsyna/AP Dogs stand in floodwaters in Kherson on June 7. Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A satellite image shows the collapsed dam on Tuesday, June 6. Handout/Planet Labs PBC/Reuters Red Cross workers drive along a street in Kherson on June 6. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Local resident Tetiana holds her pets, Tsatsa and Chunya, as she stands inside her flooded house after the destruction of the dam. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Local residents stand on an embankment of the flooded Dnipro River as smoke rises from shelling on the opposite bank. Ivan Antypenko/Reuters Local residents after an evacuation of a flooded area in Kherson. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters A view shows the House of Culture on a flooded street in Nova Kakhovka. Alexey Konovalov/TASS/Handout/Reuters People make their way through floodwaters in Kherson. Libkos/AP People in, and on, an army truck as emergency responders work during evacuations. Felipe Dana/AP Local residents comfort each other following their evacuation from a flooded area. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters Rescue workers attempt to tow boats carrying evacuated residents on June 6. Libkos/AP The roof of a house in the flooded Dnipro River in Kherson. Ivan Antypenko/Reuters Evacuees wait for a train at a railway station in Kherson on June 6. Nina Lyashonok/AP A view of the breached dam on June 6. Alexey Konovalov/TASS/Reuters Local resident Oleksandra walks around her house on a flooded street in Kherson. Alina Smutko/Reuters In pictures: The collapse of Ukraine's Nova Kakhovka dam Prev Next
The area surrounding the dam has been one of the most heavily contested regions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The city of Kherson, which sits on the west bank of the Dnipro river, was liberated by the Ukrainian military in November after eight months of Russian occupation.
But much of the east bank of the river south of the Nova Kakhovka dam remains under Russian control.
The reservoir supplies water to large swaths of southern Ukraine, including to the Crimean peninsula which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Source: CNN
