600 square kilometres of southern Ukraine flooded after dam collapse
600 square kilometres in Ukraine's southern Kherson region have been flooded after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday (6 June). This was announced by the region's governor, Oleksandr Produkin.
Speaking on Telegram, Produkin also said 32% of the flooded area is on the Ukrainian controlled right bank and 68% on the Russian occupied left bank. The average water level in flooded areas is currently 5.61m, with the town of Oleshky being particularly badly affected. In total, 30 communities have been affected, according to Ukrainian officials.
As of Thursday morning (8 June), 2,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas while some who are stranded on the roofs of their homes in Russian-controlled areas have received drinking water by drone, the governor said.
There have also been reports of Russian forces shelling affected areas and even shooting at Ukrainians trying to rescue people affected by the floods. While thousands have been made homeless, Ukrainian officials have said that hundreds of thousands now have no access to clean water, and irrigation systems served by the Dnieper river have been swept away, seriously damaging fertile land that could take years to recover.
patrickn97
Thu, 06/08/2023 - 10:05
Opinion: the future will show whether May 2023 was a breakthrough or another missed chance
The last month has probably been the single most active period in the long and complicated peace negotiation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, writes Murad Muradov in this op-ed for commonspace.eu. The two countries' leaders have met three times, and a few significant developments have happened in between. So, depending on what we see in the coming weeks, May 2023 will go down in history either as a time of historic breakthrough or another big missed chance.
