Three people died and ten were injured on Sunday in an attack on a ship carrying evacuees from flooded areas in southern Ukraine, the local governor announced.

“Thirteen people fell victim to the bombing of a boat evacuating people from the left bank [del río Dniéper]. Three were killed and 10 others were injured, including two law enforcement officials,” Kherson region governor Oleksandre Prokudin told Telegram.

Prokudin said a 74-year-old man was trying to protect a woman with his body when the Russians started firing.

“The Russians shot him in the back. He died of his injuries,” he wrote in his message.

Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, Russian controlled front line in the Kherson region.

The destruction caused flooding throughout the area, fear of a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.

Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of destroying infrastructure along the Dnieper River.

Kiev’s government rushed to launch rescue operations after the floods, but many people living in Moscow-controlled areas say they have been left behind..