Breaking! Tension As Russia’s Putin Blows Up Ukraine Dam -Zelensky Alleges

Thousands of people are being evacuated downstream of a major dam which has been blown up in Russian-held Ukraine.

President Zelensky said 80 towns and villages were at risk of flooding after the destruction of the dam at Nova Kakhovka, which he blamed on Russia.

Water is surging down the Dnipro river and is said to pose a catastrophic flooding risk to the city of Kherson.

Russia has denied destroying the dam – which it controls – instead blaming Ukrainian shelling.

Neither Ukraine or Russia’s claim has been verified by the BBC.

The Kakhovka dam is crucial in the region. It contains a reservoir, which provides water to farmers and residents, as well as to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It is also is a vital channel carrying water south to Russian-occupied Crimea.

Video footage shows a torrent of floodwater gushing through a breach in the dam. Several towns are already flooded, while people in areas further downstream were forced to flee by bus and train.

Around 40,000 people need to be evacuated, Deputy Prosecutor-General Viktoriya Lytvynova said on Ukrainian television – 17,000 people in Ukraine-controlled territory west of the Dnipro River and 25,000 on the Russian-controlled east.

Also speaking on Ukrainian television, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said about 1,000 people had been evacuated so far and “24 settlements” had been flooded.

He accused Russia of shelling the southern region of Kherson, where people were being evacuated from, and issued a warning about the dangers posed by mines being exposed by the rising water levels.

One local resident Andrei, who lives close to the dam – which has been under Russian control throughout the invasion – said he believed Russia wanted to “drown” his city.

In Kherson, a woman called Lyudmyla – who was loading her belongings including a washing machine onto a trailer that was attached to an old car – said: “We’re afraid of flooding. We’re taking our things a little higher up.”

She called for Russian forces to be “kicked out of here… they’re shooting at us. They’re flooding us or doing something else”.

Another resident of the city, Sergiy, said he feared “everything is going to die here”.

“All the living creatures, and people will be flooded out,” he said, gesturing at nearby houses and gardens.

On the Russian-controlled riverbank, Vladimir Leontyev, the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka where the dam is located, said the city was underwater and 900 people had been evacuated.

He said 53 evacuation buses were being sent by the authorities to take people from the city and two other settlements nearby to safety.

Nova Kakhovka’s Russian-installed mayor said water levels had risen to over 11m (36ft) and that some residents had been taken to hospital, but gave no further details.

The Kazkova Dibrova zoo on the Russian-held riverbank has been completely flooded and all 300 animals are dead, it said in a post on its Facebook page.

There are concerns about the impact on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which uses water from a reservoir behind the dam for cooling.

The situation there is said to be under control and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said it is monitoring the situation closely.

The UN agency said it saw “no immediate nuclear safety risk” at Europe’s biggest atomic plant.