Ukraine asserted that Russian forces had destroyed a significant dam in a region of southern Ukraine under their control, prompting residents further up the Dnipro River to flee and causing flooding downstream on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry warned against possible false information and urged residents of 10 villages on the right bank of the river as well as a portion of the city of Kherson to gather important documents, turn off their appliances, and leave.
The army's Southern Operational Command posted a Facebook post accusing "Russian occupation troops" of blowing up the hydroelectric dam amid social media footage of the dam wall being mostly washed away and a huge surge of water moving downstream.
"The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified," the military said on their official Facebook page.
In response to the catastrophe, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Tuesday morning that he would convene an emergency meeting.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the top of the Kherson Provincial Military Organisation, said in a video presented on Message in practically no time before 7 am that "the Russian army has committed yet another act of terror," and cautioned that water will reach “critical levels" in five hours or less.
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