June 7, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian forces carried out heavy shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region overnight, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram Wednesday.

According to Gladkov, the shelling targeted several areas in the border region of Belgorod, including Shebekino. 

“460 units of various ammunition were fired in the Shebekino urban district, 26 drops of explosive devices from UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were recorded,” Gladkov wrote, adding that in the town of Shebekino strikes were carried out mainly on residential areas.

Galdkov added that the villages of Zhuravlyovka, Tsapovka, Stary, and Kozinka also came under fire, with no reported injuries.

Some context: Russia has seen the effects of its war on Ukraine increasingly reverberate back onto its own territory in recent months.

Belgorod has seen a series of drone attacks. Last week, a “massive” shelling attack injured four people in the region. Eight apartment buildings, four homes, a school and two administrative buildings were damaged during the shelling in Shebekino, a village in the border region of Belgorod.

A drone attack was also launched on Russia’s Bryansk region last Wednesday, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. About 10 drones tried to attack the Klimovsky district and were shot down or intercepted, RIA reported citing emergency services.

Some 1,548 people had been evacuated from Ukrainian controlled flooded areas of the Kherson region by 11:30 a.m. local time, the State Emergency Services and National Police of Ukraine confirmed Wednesday.

Thousands have been evacuated and there are fears of an ecological catastrophe after the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant collapsed on Tuesday.

Authorities added in a post on Telegram that "20 settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River and more than 1,900 houses were flooded in Kherson region."

The operation to save people has involved 1,700 workers, 300 pieces of equipment and 33 water vessels.

One of the pieces of equipment used in the rescue was the "Bohun" all terrain vehicle that can move freely through water and mud.

Some context: Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. It is not yet clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, said Russia bears “criminal liability” and Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

Concerns are now turning to the dangers to wildlife, farmlands, settlements and water supplies from the floodwaters and possible contamination from industrial chemicals and oil leaked from the hydropower plant into the Dnipro River.

The Russian-installed mayor of the occupied Kherson region has claimed Ukrainians have “harmed themselves" with the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant along the Dnipro River.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the breach of the dam.

CNN has not been able to establish what caused the dam to collapse and it remains unclear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or if the collapse was the result of structural failure.

Speaking on Russian state TV, Vladimir Saldo claimed the incident will benefit the Russian military.

He went to say this was contrary to the "expectation that blowing up the dam will give some strategic or even operational advantage to the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine)."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims that Russia bears “criminal liability” and that Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

Saldo went on to claim that according to “preliminary forecasts” between 22,000 and 40,000 people were in the disaster zone. He added that the seven people who may be missing could be on the islands further down stream but will only be able to confirm that once they have access to these areas.

China is "seriously concerned" about the collapse of Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam, the country's foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Wang added that Beijing hopes that all parties will commit to a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine and work together to promote a de-escalation of the situation. 

“We call on all parties concerned in the conflicts to follow international humanitarian law and to do their utmost to protect the safety of civilians and civil facility,” Wang said. 

Meanwhile, the European Union yesterday condemned the incident as "a new dimension of Russian atrocities."

Some context: Thousands of people have been evacuated and there are fears of an ecological catastrophe after the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant collapsed on Tuesday.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. It is not yet clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, said Russia bears “criminal liability” and Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

Concerns are now turning to the dangers to wildlife, farmlands, settlements and water supplies from the floodwaters and possible contamination from industrial chemicals and oil leaked from the hydropower plant into the Dnipro River.

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has sparked fears of an ecological catastrophe, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describing the situation as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction.”

Water levels on Wednesday continued to rise after the Russian-occupied dam and hydro-electric power plant was destroyed early Tuesday, forcing more than 1,400 people to flee their homes and threatening vital water supplies as flooding inundated towns, cities and farmland.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. It is not yet clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure. 

Zelensky, however, said Russia bears “criminal liability” and Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the dam incident as a case of “ecocide.”

Concerns are now turning to the dangers to wildlife, farmlands, settlements and water supplies from the floodwaters and possible contamination from industrial chemicals and oil leaked from the hydropower plant into the Dnipro River.

The head of Ukraine’s main hydropower generating company told CNN the environmental consequences from the breach will be “significant” and damaged equipment at the plant could be leaking oil.

Read the full story here.

At least seven people are missing following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, the occupied town's Moscow-appointed mayor told Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Leontiev said 900 people had been evacuated so far and the water levels in Nova Kakhovka were decreasing after the dam's collapse caused extensive flooding.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Ukrainian forces of causing the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam, echoing earlier comments from the Kremlin.

In a statement, the ministry said the dam's destruction had "led to a devastating humanitarian and environmental disaster," adding that huge impacts would be felt on the ecosystems along the Dnipro River.  

Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of being behind the dam’s collapse, although it is not clear whether the facility was deliberately attacked or if the breach was the result of structural failure. 

On Tuesday, the Kremlin called the incident an act of "sabotage by the Kiev regime." 

CNN analysis found the water levels in the reservoir behind the dam were at record highs last month, according to the Hydroweb information service. Levels had plummeted earlier in the year, the same data shows, prompting Ukrainian officials in February to warn of possible shortages in drinking water supplies, and water for agricultural use. 

Ukrainian view: On Tuesday, a Ukrainian lawmaker told CNN "only" Russia could have caused the dam to collapse as the facility is located in Russian-occupied territory. Inna Sovsun, a member of Ukraine's parliament, said the dam's collapse had drawn Ukrainian military personnel away from a potential counteroffensive.

Russian strikes hit residential areas, killing one person and wounding another over the past day in Kherson, according to Ukrainian authorities, as the southern region reels from flooding brought by the collapse of a major dam.

The frontline city of Kherson was shelled nine times, the administration added.

More than 1,400 people have been evacuated in Kherson as of early Wednesday following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, according to the administration.

Earlier Wednesday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said a number of civilians had been killed and injured in Russian strikes on Ukraine over the past day.

Water levels in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka have fallen 35 centimeters (nearly 14 inches) from the height of the flooding as of early Wednesday following the nearby dam's collapse, a Moscow-backed official said.

Vladimir Leontiev, the Russia-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, said hundreds of people had been evacuated in the town.

Remember: Leontiev on Tuesday initially denied information about the dam collapsing in an interview with Russian state media, calling it "nonsense." He later performed a U-turn, confirming the destruction of parts of the dam in what he called "a serious terrorist act," though he claimed at the time there was "no need to evacuate."