40,000 may lose homes after 'grave' breach of Ukraine dam

Swamped: an aerial view of streets under water in Kherson as rescue workers use boats to reach trapped residents in the city

- Rachael Burford

MORE than 40,000 people are at risk of losing their homes to flooding after a giant Soviet-era dam was blown up in eastern Ukraine, officials in the country warned today.

Thousands more are expected to lose access to food supplies and safe drinking water following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River. Aerial photos show entire streets submerged in the port city of Kherson and rescuers evacuating residents in dinghies. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the organisation’s Security Council last night that the dam breach “will have grave and far-reaching consequences” and added: “The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realised in the coming days”. Millions of litres of water were gushing through the breached dam following the “ecocide” attack, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky blamed on “Russian terrorists”.