Zelensky visits aftermath of dam 'ecocide'

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY today visited flood-hit Kherson as British defence chiefs said Ukrainian forces had seized the “initiative” in heavy fighting in several areas of the frontline.

- Nicholas Cecil, Matt Watts

The Ukrainian leader visited the region that has been devastated by a dam breach to discuss emergency operations. He said he was helping to assess efforts to evacuate civilians, provide them with drinking water and other support along with seeing the vast environmental damage.

Around 14,000 houses have been flooded after the Kakhovka dam burst early on Tuesday, with around 4,300 people evacuated, Russian state-owned news agency TASS cited the country’s security services as saying today.

Around 600 sq km of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region is under water, 68 per cent of which are located on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro river, the regional governor said.