Live blog: Putin orders emergency aid for areas flooded by dam breach

Thursday, June 8, 2023

President Vladimir Putin has instructed emergency services to provide aid to Moscow-controlled areas that were flooded after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.

A Kremlin statement said Putin discussed the current situation in the region affected by the incident with Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed governor in Kherson.

"Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Emergency Situations to provide all necessary assistance to households affected by the flood, in full compliance with the standards of the Russian Federation," the statement said.

The Russian leader also ordered an analysis of the needs that emerge in the region, it added.

The dam was destroyed on Tuesday, forcing thousands to flee their homes as water surged into the Dnipro River, flooding dozens of villages and parts of the capital Kherson and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the dam's collapse.

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1901 GMT — Dutch to send rescue boats, water pumps to Ukraine

The Netherlands is sending dozens of boats, water pumps and other water-resistant gear to Ukraine to help with rescue operations in the wake of the Kakhovka dam breach, officials said.

Gear to be sent "as quickly as possible" includes 32 rescue boats, 15 water pumps and around 180 life jackets, the Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Ministry said in a statement.

"We are doing everything we can to help Ukraine in this. It's terrible what happened," Dutch Development Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in the statement.

1840 GMT — US, UK pledge continued support for Ukraine

United States President Joe Biden has voiced confidence that the US would provide long-term military support to Ukraine.

"The fact of the matter is that I believe we'll have the funding necessary to support Ukraine as long as it takes," Biden told a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Sunak, on his end, said Ukraine's supporters needed to send a strong signal to Putin that their backing for Kiev will not weaken as the war goes on.

"We're not going anywhere. We will be here for as long as it takes. And hopefully that will speed up the calculation in his (Putin's) mind that he should withdraw his forces," he said.

1632 GMT — WHO eyes dire health impact of Ukraine dam destruction

The World Health Organization has said it was rushing in supplies and upping surveillance after Ukraine's dam disaster, amid an increased threat of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

"The impact on the region's water supply, sanitation systems and public health services cannot be underestimated," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, warning that the broader impact on health could also be dramatic.

"WHO has rushed in to support the authorities and health care workers in preventive measures against waterborne diseases and to improve disease surveillance," he said.

Teresa Zakaria, a WHO technical officer for emergencies response, said samples of the cholera bacteria have been found in the environment in Ukraine, although no human cases have yet been reported there since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February last year.

"At any given moment... we could start finding cases," she told reporters, adding that WHO had been working with Ukraine's health ministry "to make sure that mechanisms are in place to enable the importation of vaccines as soon as they are required."

1628 GMT — Top general tells Putin how Russia repelled major Ukrainian attack - defence ministry

The general in charge of Russia's troops in Ukraine has briefed President Putin on how his forces repelled a large-scale Ukrainian attack in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, one of his subordinates said.

Russian Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk said attacking Ukrainian forces had run into serious problems in a Russian minefield, that Russia had used bombers to repel them, and alleged that Russian forces had destroyed three German-made Leopard tanks.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said earlier that Russian forces had withstood fierce overnight attempts by Ukrainian troops to break through the frontline in Zaporizhzhia and had inflicted heavy losses on them.

There was no immediate comment on the situation from the Ukrainian defence ministry.

1620 GMT — NATO chief urges speedy Ukraine aid after dam explosion

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged members of the alliance to speed up humanitarian assistance to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam after Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba briefed NATO ambassadors via video link.

Stoltenberg told the meeting that "the consequences for thousands of people and for the environment are dramatic, and he urged Allies to provide support expeditiously", NATO said in a statement.

"Allies expressed strong solidarity with Ukraine, and many are already providing critical aid, including water filters, pumps, generators, and shelter equipment," it said.

1556 GMT — UN willing to help people in flooded areas under Russian control if Moscow allows access: Ukraine

Ukraine has said United Nations personnel will be deployed on the left bank of the Dnieper River once Russia provides access and security guarantees, following flooding in areas downstream since Tuesday as a result of a blast that damaged the Kakhovka dam.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Denise Brown discussed bolstering UN assistance in Ukraine to overcome the “humanitarian consequences” caused by flooding after the explosion at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).

"The sides agreed that the UN units will go to the affected areas in the temporarily occupied territories from the Ukraine-controlled territories as soon as Russia provides access and security guarantees," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

1539 GMT — 16,000 people affected by flooding after Ukraine dam destruction: UN

The United Nations refugee agency has said some 16,000 people have been affected by flooding in the areas controlled by Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Citing national authorities, the UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told Anadolu that as of 0500 GMT (8 am local), 1,995 people have been reportedly evacuated or left the area, while hundreds of thousands lack access to safe drinking water.

Regarding the people affected in the areas under Russia's control, Mantoo said: "Many thousands more in the areas under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation have been affected to whom humanitarian organisations currently have no access."

1504 GMT — Ukraine says foreign countries won’t send troops until conflict is over

Ukraine's foreign minister has said that foreign countries will not send troops to the war-torn country until the conflict with Russia is over, adding that Kiev has not made such a request.

“Until the end of the armed conflict in the territory of Ukraine, foreign countries will not deploy their troops in the territory of our state. Moreover, we do not ask for this – we say: give us weapons, we ourselves know how to fight,” Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Ukrainian TV channel 1+1.

While Kiev's membership in NATO will not end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it will help to prevent future conflicts from arising, Kuleba argued.

1429 GMT — Ukraine: Nine injured in Russian shelling of flood-hit Kherson

Ukraine has said nine people were injured in Russian shelling in the Kherson region as it deals with massive flooding from the destruction of a dam in Russian-held territory.

"As a result of shelling in the Kherson region, where evacuation measures are taking place, nine people were injured," Ukraine's interior ministry said, adding there were "no dead".

It said those wounded were six civilians, one police officer and two employees of the State Emergency Service. Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a doctor and a German volunteer were among the injured.

In a nearby village, "four locals were injured by shelling", the prosecutor's office said.

The shelling came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Kherson to assess the damage.

1334 GMT — Russia claims repelling Ukrainian offensive in Zaporizhzhia

Russia has said its forces had repelled large-scale overnight attempts by Ukrainian troops, involving 1,500 soldiers, to break through the frontline in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and had inflicted heavy losses on them.

"Today at 1:30 am (2230 GMT) in the Zaporizhzhia area... there was an attempt to break through our defences," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

"The enemy was stopped and retreated after heavy losses," Shoigu said, adding that the Ukrainian forces had used 150 armoured vehicles in their offensive.

Already this week, Russia has said it has repelled several assaults by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials have said their forces were ready for a long-expected counteroffensive but that there would be no formal announcement when it begins.

1313 GMT — Ukraine fears losing millions of tonnes of crops after dam collapse

Ukrainian agriculture's losses from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam could be much higher than previously expected because the disaster inflicted "years" of damage to irrigation, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky has said.

Speaking on national television, Solsky said it was obvious that there would be no water in the region's irrigation systems for "years" and that to repair them, the Kakhovka dam would have to be restored.

The Ukrainian agriculture ministry earlier warned that the country could lose several million tonnes of crops because of flooding caused by the destruction of the dam.

It said the dam's destruction would flood tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in southern Ukraine and could turn at least 500,000 hectares of land left without irrigation into "deserts", adding that flooded land would require a full agro-ecological assessment of the soil condition and in most cases, special soil restoration methods would need to be applied.

1045 GMT — Kremlin accuses Ukraine of shelling Russian rescuers in dam flood zone

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of shelling Russian rescue workers in the area flooded after the huge Kakhovka dam in Ukraine's Kherson region was breached earlier this week.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian rescue workers in the area were working hard, but "in a lot of places they (the rescuers) are forced to work in conditions of ongoing shelling from Ukraine, and this complicates their work." He did not provide any immediate evidence for his assertion.

The Russian-backed governor of Ukraine's Kherson region Vladimir Saldo said Ukraine had shelled an evacuation point for civilians affected by the Kakhovka dam breach in the town of Hola Prystan, killing two people.

1037 GMT — Kremlin: Damage to ammonia pipeline in Ukraine 'complicates' extension of grain deal

Damage to the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline in Ukraine has "complicated" the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said such an "accident" can "only negatively" affect the fate of the grain deal, because restoration of supplies through the pipeline was one of Russia's conditions for signing it.

"You know that this topic (restoration of ammonia supplies via the pipeline) figured as an integral part of the half of the deal that concerned us. Therefore, let's just say this is another very complicated moment in terms of extending the deal," he said.

1029 GMT — Ukraine warns over reservoir level after Kakhovka dam collapse

The water level at a reservoir in southern Ukraine is approaching a dangerous low after the destruction of the dam at the nearby Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, the state company overseeing the facility has warned.

Ihor Syrota, general director of Ukrhydroenergo, told Ukrainian television that a drop below the current water level at the Kakhovka Reservoir could affect the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station and water supply to other regions.

"We are reaching this dead zone, which is 12.70 (meters), after which there will not be any water intake either for the cooling ponds at the Zaporizhzhia station...or...for all regions."

The UN atomic watchdog had said on Tuesday the plant, Europe's largest, has enough water to cool its reactors for "several months" from a pond located above the reservoir.

0950 GMT — Russia accuses Ukraine of shelling dam at UN court

Russia has accused Ukraine at the UN's top court of destroying a key dam with artillery strikes, and accused Kiev of telling judges "blatant lies".

Moscow urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to reject a case brought by Kiev over Russia's alleged backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine and the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

"Ukraine has declared that Russia blew up the large dam at Nova Kakhovka. In fact, it's Ukraine that did it," Russian diplomat Alexander Shulgin told the court in The Hague.

"The Kiev regime not only launched massive artillery attacks against the dam on the night of June 6, but it also deliberately raised the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir to a critical level" by opening sluice gates at a hydroelectric plant beforehand, he said.

0850 GMT — Three killed in Russian attack in eastern Ukraine

Overnight Russian shelling has killed three people, including a four-year-old boy, in the town of Ukrainsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the regional governor reported.

"Russian troops shelled the Ukrainsk residential sector with artillery. A four-year-old boy, his father and grandfather were killed," the police said on social media.

Five people, including three children, were also wounded in the same attack, and two were wounded in attacks elsewhere in the region, governor Pavlo Kirilenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

0844 GMT — Russia says five dead in Ukraine dam flooding

Five people have died in the floods triggered by the destruction of a Moscow-administered dam in southern Ukraine, Russian authorities said.

"Five people have died as a result of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station disaster. 41 people are in hospital," said a post published by the Moscow-backed administration of Nova Kakhovka, where the dam is located.

0832 GMT — Mines uprooted in Ukraine dam disaster could pose danger for years to come – Red Cross

Mines uprooted and dispersed by floodwaters surging downstream from the breached Kakhovka dam could pose a grave danger to civilians for decades to come, the Red Cross said.

The waters have also washed over countless land mines sown during the 15-month Russia-Ukraine conflict and nobody now knows where they are: they could still be in the minefields or could be stuck in the river mud or in fields, gardens and roads across a vast area.

"In the past we knew where the hazards were. Now we don't know. All we know is that they are somewhere downstream," said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"It is with a certain horror that we look at the news coming out," said Tollefsen in an audio clip, adding that World War Two mines found underwater in Denmark in 2015 were still active.

0829 GMT — Some NATO members could deploy troops to Ukraine, says former alliance chief

Certain individual NATO member states might consider deploying troops to Ukraine if other members or the alliance in general do not offer significant security assurances to Kiev, especially at its summit this July, according to a former NATO chief.

"If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action,” former Secretary General Anders Rasmussen, now serving as an official adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Britain’s The Guardian.

Paying visits to various European capitals and Washington ahead of the Vilnius, Lithuania summit, Rasmussen has been stressing the importance of providing Ukraine with written security assurances, said the daily, including such areas as intelligence sharing, training support, ammunition production, and ongoing arms supplies.

Rasmussen said while these guarantees are crucial, they should not overshadow Ukraine's primary focus on its path towards NATO membership.

0413 GMT — Biden and Sunak to focus on Ukraine and economic security in British PM's first White House visit

US President Joe Biden and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have already had four face-to-face meetings since Sunak became prime minister in October, but the talks in Washington will offer the two leaders a chance for their most sustained interaction to date.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the 15-month-old Russian offensive in Ukraine will be “top of mind.” The US and UK are the two biggest donors to the Ukraine war effort and play a central role in a long-term effort announced last month to train, and eventually equip, Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

0133 GMT — Russia warns that supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine would lead to 'global, irrevocable collapse'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that if the West supplies Ukraine with nuclear weapons, it would lead to the end of humankind’s existence on the planet.

She pointed out that in recent months, the Ukrainian authorities took steps that harm the interests of their own country and its population.

"If they want a global, irrevocable collapse, then they will do it (deliver nuclear weapons to Ukraine). You can see what's going on. The Kyiv regime is ready to destroy its own land...They are ready to infect it with depleted uranium, flood it with water, poison it with ammonia," she said.

Zakharova said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team are turning into "an international terrorist organization."

0724 GMT — About 600 sq km of Ukraine's Kherson region under water after dam destroyed - governor

About 600 square kilometres, or 230 square miles, of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine was under water following the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, the regional governor said.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said 68 percent of the flooded territory was on the Russian-controlled left bank of the Dnipro River. The "average level of flooding" in the Kherson region on Thursday morning was 5.61 metres (18.41 ft), he said.

"We're already working. We will help everyone that has ended up in trouble," he said in a video statement of the flooding caused by the collapse of the dam, which is about 60 km upstream from Kherson.

2332 GMT — World Bank to assess damage, needs after Ukraine dam destruction

The World Bank will support Ukraine by conducting a rapid assessment of damages and needs after the destruction of a huge hydroelectric dam on the front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces, a top bank official has said.

Anna Bjerde, the World Bank's managing director for operations, in a tweet said the destruction of the Novo Kakhovka dam had "many very serious consequences for essential service delivery and the broader environment."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, also writing on Twitter, said he spoke with Bjerde about the impact of the dam's collapse, and she assured him the World Bank would carry out a rapid assessment of the damages and needs.

2200 GMT — Aid organisations must help with burst dam aftermath – Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that international aid groups must take immediate action to tackle the aftermath of the destruction of a hydropower dam in Ukraine and any group not on the spot helping is simply incapable.

"It is necessary for international organisations, like the International Committee of the Red Cross, to get immediately involved in the rescue operation and help people in the occupied part of Kherson region," Zelenskyy said in his daily video address.

"If an international organisation is not present in the disaster zone, it means it does not exist at all or is incapable."

Zelenskyy said residents in areas of southern Ukraine occupied by Russian troops were without water, food or medical help and it was impossible to determine how many people in this area might die.

2038 GMT — Zelenskyy denies Ukraine behind Nord Stream blasts

Kiev knew nothing about a plan to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, President Zelenskyy has said amid growing speculation that Ukraine was behind the blast.

As president he has the power to give orders, Zelenskyy said in an interview with Germany's Bild daily.

"I did nothing like that. I would never do that," he said, according to a German interpreter. "I believe that our army and our intelligence services did nothing like that," he said, adding that he would "like to see proof".

"We know nothing about it, 100 percent," he said.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a European spy agency told the CIA it knew of a Ukraine special operations team plan to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

For our live updates from Wednesday (June 7), click here.