People lost their homes and were at risk of disease due to floods.

Ukraine said the "great flood" would leave hundreds of thousands of people without drinking water, inundate tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land, and also turn at least 500,000 hectares of land in the upper reaches of the Dnipro River into "desert" due to lack of irrigation.

In Ukraine, people are homeless and at risk of disease due to the circulation of the virus. Image 1 — Tens of thousands of people staying on both sides of the front line in Kherson now face additional flooding due to the destruction of the hydroelectric dam there. Photo: Reuters

In flooded areas, people waded through flooded streets carrying children on their shoulders and belongings in plastic bags. Rescuers used rubber boats to search for victims in areas where water rose above their heads.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that it was impossible to predict how many people would die in the flood-hit areas, and called on the world to "respond clearly and quickly" to assist the victims.

Tuesday’s Nova Kakhovka dam collapse came as Ukraine prepared for a major counteroffensive in its conflict with Russia. Both sides blamed each other for the incident. Kiev said its troops counterattacked in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut. Russia said it had thwarted the attack.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, said the ongoing attacks were still localized and a full-scale offensive had yet to begin. "When we start, people will know about it, they will see it," he said.

Kiev said months ago that Russian forces had controlled the dam early in the war and may have blown it up to try to stop Ukrainian forces from crossing the Dnipro River during a counteroffensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of destroying the dam at the suggestion of the West, calling it a “war crime” that escalated the conflict. Mr Putin described the incident as an “environmental and humanitarian disaster”, according to a Kremlin statement.

No one has yet publicly provided evidence to prove who was responsible, while some experts say the dam may have collapsed due to the impact of the fighting and lack of maintenance.

In Ukraine, people are homeless and at risk of disease due to the circulation of the virus. Image 2 — Satellite images on June 7 show widespread floodwaters on both sides of the Dnipro River in Kherson, Ukraine. Graphic photo: Reuters/Copernicus

Russian forces have imposed a state of emergency in areas of Kherson province under their control, where many towns and villages lie in low-lying areas exposed below the dam. In the town of Nova Kakhovka next to the dam, brown water has submerged main streets and is largely deserted.

Russia's TASS news agency quoted Mayor Vladimir Leontyev as saying that more than 30,000 cubic meters of water flowed from the dam's reservoir every second and the town was at risk of being polluted by the floodwaters.

Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he was "shocked" by what he called the lack of aid provided by the United Nations and the Red Cross to victims of the disaster so far. Shortly afterward, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that "within the next few hours we will send aid to meet immediate needs."

The UN humanitarian office said a team was in Kherson to coordinate relief efforts. Access to drinking water was a major concern and about 12,000 bottles of water and 10,000 purification tablets had been distributed so far.

Hoang Anh (according to TASS, Reuters)

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