Ukraine Floods

Ravaged forests, flooded towns and dead dolphins: after nearly two years of war in Ukraine, experts say environmental damage is becoming an "enormous" tragedy that will affect generations to come.

The death count from flooding sparked by a breach of a huge Ukrainian dam has risen to 41 in areas under Russian control, an official said Wednesday.

The destruction of the vast Kakhovka hydro-electric dam has caused 1.2 billion euros of damage, Ukraine's environment minister said on Tuesday, warning that mines unearthed by flooding could wash onto other European countries' shores.

More than a hundred cats and dogs have made their way to this shelter in an exhibition centre pavilion after being rescued by volunteers in the Kherson region, where the Kakhovka dam breach caused massive floods last week.

The U.N. atomic watchdog said on Sunday that it needs wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to check "a significant discrepancy" in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant's reactors.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that a counteroffensive was underway as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv and criticised Russia over flooding from the breached Kakhovka dam.

The first one or two storeys of houses and people's yards were underwater and an emerald green church was semi-submerged, with the tops of trees poking out from the water in places.

The water, which flooded 22,273 homes in 17 settlements, could "keep rising for up to ten days."

"The average level of flooding is 600 square kilometres of the Kherson region are under water, of which 32 percent is the right bank and 68 percent is the left bank," Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on social media.

With the flood reaching the rooftops, rescuers raced to save people in Kherson as water from the destroyed Kakhovka dam engulfed the southern Ukrainian city.

Ukraine was evacuating thousands of people from flooded areas Wednesday after an attack on a major Russian-held dam unleashed a torrent of water, inundating two dozen villages and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

The 24 hours before Tuesday's flooding of the Dnipro River basin were already dramatic, as Ukraine appeared on the cusp of a counteroffensive that many in Kyiv see as their best chance to defeat Russia's invasion.

Ukraine Dam Collapse: The breach of a dam on the Dnipro River, a major strategic waterway in Ukraine, could lead to an environmental disaster for civilians in the region.

About 42,000 people were at risk from flooding in Russian and Ukrainian controlled areas along the Dnipro River after a dam collapsed, as the United Nations aid chief warned of "grave and far-reaching consequences."

Everything is going to die here," said Sergiy as water from the breached Kakhovka dam poured downstream into the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday.

Ravaged forests, flooded towns and dead dolphins: after nearly two years of war in Ukraine, experts say environmental damage is becoming an "enormous" tragedy that will affect generations to come.

The death count from flooding sparked by a breach of a huge Ukrainian dam has risen to 41 in areas under Russian control, an official said Wednesday.

The destruction of the vast Kakhovka hydro-electric dam has caused 1.2 billion euros of damage, Ukraine's environment minister said on Tuesday, warning that mines unearthed by flooding could wash onto other European countries' shores.

More than a hundred cats and dogs have made their way to this shelter in an exhibition centre pavilion after being rescued by volunteers in the Kherson region, where the Kakhovka dam breach caused massive floods last week.

The U.N. atomic watchdog said on Sunday that it needs wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to check "a significant discrepancy" in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant's reactors.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that a counteroffensive was underway as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv and criticised Russia over flooding from the breached Kakhovka dam.

The first one or two storeys of houses and people's yards were underwater and an emerald green church was semi-submerged, with the tops of trees poking out from the water in places.

The water, which flooded 22,273 homes in 17 settlements, could "keep rising for up to ten days."

"The average level of flooding is 600 square kilometres of the Kherson region are under water, of which 32 percent is the right bank and 68 percent is the left bank," Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on social media.

With the flood reaching the rooftops, rescuers raced to save people in Kherson as water from the destroyed Kakhovka dam engulfed the southern Ukrainian city.

Ukraine was evacuating thousands of people from flooded areas Wednesday after an attack on a major Russian-held dam unleashed a torrent of water, inundating two dozen villages and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

The 24 hours before Tuesday's flooding of the Dnipro River basin were already dramatic, as Ukraine appeared on the cusp of a counteroffensive that many in Kyiv see as their best chance to defeat Russia's invasion.

Ukraine Dam Collapse: The breach of a dam on the Dnipro River, a major strategic waterway in Ukraine, could lead to an environmental disaster for civilians in the region.

About 42,000 people were at risk from flooding in Russian and Ukrainian controlled areas along the Dnipro River after a dam collapsed, as the United Nations aid chief warned of "grave and far-reaching consequences."

Everything is going to die here," said Sergiy as water from the breached Kakhovka dam poured downstream into the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday.