But the true scale of the disaster remains unclear for a region that was once home to tens of thousands of people.Īt least 14 people have died in the flooding, many are homeless, and tens of thousands are without drinking water. Officials say more than 6,000 people have been evacuated from dozens of inundated cities, towns and villages on both sides of the river. The latest disaster began Tuesday, when the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, roughly 80 kilometres (50 miles) upstream from Oleshky, collapsed, sending torrents of water down the Dnieper River and across the war's front lines. This region has suffered terribly since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, enduring sometimes-relentless artillery and missile attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin "has no plans at the current moment" to visit affected Moscow-occupied areas, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to the area to assess the damage. Authorities there have aggressively evacuated civilians and brought in emergency supplies. It's a sharp contrast to Ukrainian-controlled territory flooded by the dam collapse. The AP could not independently verify reports of boat seizures or that only Russians were being evacuated, but the account is in line with reporting by independent Russian media. Her grandmother, aunt and more than a dozen other people are taking shelter in the attic of a two-story house.ĭetails of life in Russian-occupied Ukraine are often unclear. "My relatives said that Russian soldiers were coming up to the house today by boat, but they said they would only take those with Russian passports," she told The Associated Press. Viktoria Mironova-Baka said she has been in touch from Germany with relatives stuck in the flooded region. ![]() Others have been turned away from rescue. One woman with her, a neighbour's grandmother, could not move on her own. "There is still no help." Her grandfather, who had suffered a stroke, was running out of medicine, she said. "Everything around us is flooded," she said. "We are afraid that no one will know about our deaths," she said in a brief cellphone interview, her voice trembling. The group in the attic have no electricity, no running water, no food. About two-thirds of the flooded areas are in territory occupied by Russia, officials said. So 19-year-old Yektarina But and the three elderly people with her simply wait, along with thousands of others believed to be trapped by floodwaters spread across 600 square kilometres (230 square miles) of the Kherson region. "They are afraid of saboteurs, they suspect everyone." "Russian soldiers are standing at the checkpoints, preventing (rescuers) from approaching the most-affected areas and taking away the boats," said one volunteer, Yaroslav Vasiliev.
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