Ukraine to Evacuate Kherson Settlements Over Nova Kakhovka Flooding Threat

Ukrainian officials were set to evacuate residents of settlements along the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast after the military said Russian forces blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam early on Tuesday, June 6.

By 7:40 am local time, the streets of Korabel island, part of Kherson, were already flooding, state broadcaster Suspilne news reported.

The Kherson Region Military Administration (OVA) said police and the state emergency service would be evacuating residents from 11 areas on the right bank of the Dnipro River, including Korabel.

The military’s southern command said it was clarifying the extent of the damage and the likely flood path.

President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to convene a national security council meeting later in the morning, the Kherson OVA said, calling the destruction of the dam “ecocide” and a threat to the Zaprorizhzhia nuclear power plant. Water from the dam’s reservoir supplies the power plant, which is also under Russian control.

State nuclear energy company Energoatom said the nuclear plant’s cooling station pond was currently full, but the “rapidly decreasing” water supply posed an additional threat to the nuclear station.

The International Atomic Energy Administration did not immediately comment on a possible impact to the nuclear plant. Credit: Suspilne News via Storyful

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