3:32 p.m.: 35 people missing after Ukraine floods, says minister
Thirty-five people, including seven children, were missing in southern Ukraine on Sunday after a devastating flood that prosecutors called “the worst environmental catastrophe since Chernobyl.”
The Russian-controlled Kakhovka dam along the front line in the Kherson region was destroyed on June 6, forcing thousands to flee and sparking fears of humanitarian and environmental disasters.
Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro river, while Moscow says kyiv fired on the structure.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said that 77 cities and towns were flooded in the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv. Klymenko said that 35 people were missing from the Kherson region, including seven children.
As a result of the flood, five people died in the Kherson region, and one person died in the Mykolaiv region.
A total of 3,700 people have been evacuated from their homes in the two regions, the minister added in a statement.
2:46 p.m.: Russian Defense Ministry says Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet shot down over Kherson region
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in the Kherson region, where the rupture of the Kakhovka dam on Tuesday caused extensive flooding.
Russian forces have also repelled three attacks by Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region, the ministry said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
14:40: The Ukrainian army publishes a video showing the liberation of a village in the Donetsk region
A video appeared on the official Facebook page of the 68 brigade of the Ukrainian army, purporting to show the liberation of a village in the Donetsk region. This is the first official claimed liberation of a town since the beginning of this phase of counter-offensive operations. This marks a turning point in the war, as the Ukrainians now officially declare that they have recaptured at least one town.
FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg tells us more.
1:51 p.m.: Russia repels Ukraine attack on warship in Black Sea, Defense Ministry says
From Russia Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Ukraine had made an unsuccessful attempt to attack a Russian Black Sea Fleet vessel that was guarding natural gas pipelines.
The ship was monitoring the situation along the route of the Turkstream and Blue Stream pipelines in the Black Sea, the ministry said.
11:28 a.m.: No basis for possible dialogue with Ukraine, says Kremlin
The Kremlin said that there was no basis for any possible talks with Ukraine, but also that there were no preconditions for possible talks.
‘There are virtually no preconditions for a deal at the moment. Furthermore, there is no basis, not even a weak one, for any kind of dialogue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Rossiya state television.
10:25 a.m.: Ukraine says Russian forces blew up dam to prevent offensive
The Khakhovka dam was blown up by Russian forces to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing in the southern Kherson region, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam from inside its associated hydroelectric power station. The site has been under Russian occupation since the first weeks of the Russian invasion in February last year.
Moscow has blamed the destruction of the dam on Ukraine. Each side has accused the other of shelling civilians while rescue efforts are underway.
“The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was apparently carried out with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian Defense Forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector,” Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.
Key developments for Saturday June 10:
ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky It said on Saturday that counter-offensive and defensive operations were underway in Ukraine, declining to provide further details.
Nuclear power agency Energoatom says it has put the last operational reactor at Europe’s largest Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on a “cold shutdown,” a safety precaution amid catastrophic flooding from the collapse of the Kakhovka dam. close.
Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)