Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskymoved this Thursday to the southern region that was flooded after the devastation of the Kakhovka Dam and Russian occupation authorities reported five deaths in one of the affected areas.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on Tuesday forced the evacuation of thousands of people following the rising waters of the Dnieper River. a catastrophic flood that inundated dozens of towns and parts of the regional capital of Kherson. Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported that the flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam extends over 600 km2.

“The average level of the flood is 5.61 meters. 600 km2 of the Kherson region is under water,” he said.

Why the destroyed dam in Ukraine causing flooding and thousands of evacuees is important

32% are on the right bank under the control of Kyiv and the remaining 68% on the left bank are controlled by Moscowhe explained. Zelensky traveled to the city of Kherson on Thursday and visited a civilian evacuation point, where he spoke with those in charge of operations.

“Our job is to protect lives and help people as much as possible. I thank the rescuers and the volunteers!” he said in a post on social networks.

The president reported that he held a “coordination meeting” on the operational situation in the region and stated that he wants to “compensate residents affected by the disaster”. The Ukrainian state emergency service indicated that “20 settlements and 2,629 houses” had been flooded.

He also noted that 1,995 people were evacuated from the flooded areas in the Kiev-controlled area, including 103 children. Many more people fled on their own.

The authorities appointed by Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, for their part, reported that 4,500 residents have already been evacuated and five people drowned while leaving their cattle to graze. Moscow-appointed mayor of the city of Novaya Kajovka, Vladimir Leontiev, explained that more than 40 people have been hospitalized.

This is the first death toll since the dam’s destruction.

The waters begin to recede

Rescuers continued their evacuation operations from Ukrainian-controlled areas on Thursday, using boats and amphibious vehicles. Tetiana Omelchenko, 65, told AFP she was waiting for two days to the lifeguards and that he had to make his own way out through a broken window to reach the lifeboat.

“In my building, the water reached the third floor and people are still there,” he said. According to Laura Musaiyan of the Kherson Meteorological Center, the water is 5.33 meters above normal level.

“This is equivalent to two plants. You can only survive if one is on a roof,” he explained.

Musaiyan said the water level started to drop slightly. “If this trend continues, it would be good news for residents,” he estimated to AFP.

lifeguards under fire

Zelensky criticized the lack of humanitarian aid on Wednesday and said he was “shocked.” “The UN, the United Nations and the representatives of the Red Cross are not here. All those hours, and they’re still not here,” Zelensky said in an interview broadcast by German media Welt TV and Bild.

France announces aid to Ukraine to deal with dam and flood disasters

In a telephone conversation with Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dispatch “in the coming hours” of “aid to respond to Ukraine’s immediate needs”. Zelensky since Tuesday accused Russia of destroying the dam to block a counter-offensive by his troops in this part of southern Ukraine.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Wednesday and called the destruction of the dam an “atrocity” and held Ukraine responsible. Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of having launched “massive” artillery bombardments against the reservoir.

Zelensky accused Russian troops of attacking first responders operating in the disaster area. “As soon as our troops try to get someone out, the occupiers shoot at them from a distance,” he said.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russians ‘They were not prepared for the consequences of the explosion’ and “they suffered losses in men, weapons and military equipment.”

In the rest of Ukraine, “violent fighting continues in various sectors in an extremely complex operational context,” the British Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

“Ukraine maintains the initiative in most areas. Russian troops will likely continue to receive orders to resume the offensive as soon as possible,” he added.

In eastern Ukraine, in Donetsk, a boy, his father and grandfather were killed in a Russian shelling, Ukrainian police said.