Footage has shown the devastating floods in Ukraine after the wall of a major dam collapsed after an explosion caused by Russia.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam and hydroelectric power station in South Ukraine, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area.
Water is now gushing downriver, civilian houses are becoming submerged and the government has issued dire warnings of ecological disaster.
Terrified dogs, cows and deer were seen drowning in the water on sitting on roadsides quivering in fear and confusion.
Residents have been advised not to leave pets on chains, in enclosures or cages and to safely evacuate any animals to save them from drowning in floodwaters.
Houses were seen submerged in water up to their roofs.
Ukrainian authorities have previously warned that should this dam fail then it could unleash 4.8 billion gallons of water and flood Kherson and dozens of other areas where hundreds of thousands of people live.
A state of emergency has now been declared in the Russian-controlled part of the country as the water level is already up by five metres in height.
The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that about 16,000 people were in the "critical zone" on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the river.
if you can't see the poll, click here
At least 300 homes were reported to have been evacuated to districts upstream of Kherson city and would be taken by bus to the city and then by train to Mykolaiv, and to other Ukrainian cities.
Kherson’s regional head Oleksandr Prokudin accused Moscow of committing "yet another act of terror".
While Britain has blamed the dam breach on Vladimir Putin’s invasion, but stopped short of directly saying that the Russians had blown it up.
It was not immediately clear whether either side benefited from the damage to the dam as both Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-held lands are at risk of flooding.
The damage could also hinder Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south and distract its government, while at the same time, Russia depends on the dam to supply water to Crimea.
EU council president Charles Michel blamed Moscow for the dam breach.
"The destruction of civilian infrastructure clearly qualifies as a war crime — and we will hold Russia and its proxies accountable", he wrote on Twitter.
