Russia shells Ukrainian city inundated by dam collapse

KHERSON, Ukraine — Russian forces shelled a southern Ukrainian city on Thursday that had been inundated by flooding after a catastrophic dam collapse, Ukrainian officials said, forcing a suspension of rescue efforts hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to the area to assess the damage.

The fresh fighting returned security issues to the region, two days after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River set off a scramble to evacuate residents in dozens of flooded areas and get aid to those still there.

Officials on both sides said least 14 people were killed in the flooding, thousands were homeless and tens of thousands were without drinking water after the collapse. Kyiv accused Moscow of blowing up the dam and its associated hydropower plant, which the Kremlin’s forces controlled, while Russia said Ukraine bombarded it.

The ensuing flooding has ruined crops, displaced land mines, wrought widespread environmental damage, and set the stage for long-term electricity shortages.

Exclusive drone footage captured by the Associated Press showed the ruined dam falling into the river and hundreds of submerged homes, greenhouses and even a church.

Upriver from the dam, a supply of water used to cool Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was nearing critically low levels, Ukraine’s state hydroelectric company said. But the UN’s atomic energy watchdog said Wednesday that work was under way to ensure the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant had enough water in reserve to cool its shut-down reactors, in case supplies fell too much.

Zelenskyy’s office said Moscow’s forces also continued to shell Ukrainian-held areas near the nuclear plant, which is under Russian control.

The high water brought new misery and death to a country suffering uncounted casualties after 15 months of war.

Vladimir Leontyev, the Kremlin-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, a Russian-occupied city adjacent to the dam, told Russian state TV that five residents there had died in the flooding.

Mykolaiv regional Governor Vitalii Kim said one person had died in that region northwest of the city of Kherson.

Yevhen Ryshchuk, the mayor of Oleshky to the south, who fled the town after the Russians took over, told the Associated Press that residents told him eight people had died so far in the flooding, with corpses floating to the surface. His tally could not be verified.

Residents of Oleshky have accused Russian authorities in the town of not doing enough to help civilians. They have formed a group of more than 8,000 that is sharing messages about information such as stranded and trapped locals. Ryshchuk said that Russian forces are not letting people leave and are instead confiscating boats from residents and volunteers.