Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up a major dam in the Moscow-seized area of Kherson.
Footage released by Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday morning appears to show water surging through the remains of the Kakhova Dam.
“Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
Where is the Kakhova Dam?
The dam, which holds water equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
The reservoir was used to irrigate large areas of southern Ukraine and northern Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that the Kremlin annexed in 2014, as well as for cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe.
The Soviet-era dam, which is 30 metres tall and 3.2 km long, was seized by Russian forces on the first day of the invasion last year.
What happened?
The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of blowing up the dam and urged people living downstream to evacuate due to catastrophic flooding.
The hydroelectric power plant at the dam has also blown up, Ukrainian authorities allege.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of the Kherson region, said that about 16,000 are in the “critical zone” on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the river.
He said people were being evacuated for districts upstream of Kherson city and would be taken by bus to the city and then by train to Mykolaiv and other cities including Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi and Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called an emergency meeting of his national security council on Tuesday in the wake of the disaster.
“Russian terrorists,” Mr Zelensky said on Twitter. “The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land.”
“Not a single metre should be left to them, because they use every metre for terror,” he added. “It’s only Ukraine’s victory that will return security. And this victory will come. The terrorists will not be able to stop Ukraine with water, missiles or anything else.”
Russian authorities denied responsibility and blamed the collapse on Ukrainian shelling.
An unnamed representative from regional emergency services said the collapse was a result of a catastrophic structural failure, according to Interfax news agency.
“The dam could not stand it: one support collapsed, and flooding began,” the representative said, adding that there were no attacks on the hydroelectric power station overnight.
What is at risk of flooding?
The areas most under threat of flooding are the islands along the course of the Dnipro downstream of Nova Kakhovka and large swathes of the Russian-held left bank in south Kherson.
Around 22,000 people living across 14 settlements in the southern Kherson region are believed to be at risk.
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson military administration, said eight areas along the Dnipro River have been hit by floods. Police are asking people in affected villages and parts of the city of Kherson to evacuate.
“Units of the national police and the State Emergency Service of the Kherson region were alerted to alert and evacuate the civilian population from potential flooding zones on the right bank of the Dnipro River,” police said on Telegram.
What does Russia say?
Blowing up the Kakhovka dam is a war crime, a member of the Duma for Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and state television presenter has said, while denying Russia was behind the attack.
Evgeny Popov claimed Ukraine would “profit” from the damage to the dam in the Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine, and said Russia is evacuating 22,000 people from the area.
“Of course, it’s a war crime,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme.
Asked whether he would accept that if Russia is found to be behind the attack, it committed a war crime, he said: “I’m sure that this war crime made by Ukrainian regime, made by Zelensky. We don’t need to do that. We are not attacking civilian infrastructure.
“Of course, Ukrainian regime will be prosecuted for this war crime.”
He added that “our civilians are in trouble” as he pointed to the number of people being evacuated.
