Russia, Ukraine evacuate for flooding after dam bursts

On Tuesday, Ukrainian and Russian officials accused each other of blowing up a dam in the southern Russian-occupied Kherson region, forcing both countries to evacuate people. The burst dam on Tuesday threatened to flood the homes of about 22,000 people in Russian-controlled areas and about 16,000 people in Ukrainian-held areas. No deaths were immediately reported, although the flooded area continued to grow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian occupiers planted the mines in the dam, which they’ve controlled for more than a year.

What will this affect up and downstream? The dam is one of six along the Dnipro River. The river supplies water to much of southeastern Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for cooling the reactors. There are no immediate nuclear safety risks, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Jill Nelson and Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin.