and we start this hour in Ukraine where
the interior Minister has quoted as
saying 24 towns and villagers have now
been flooded after a major dam was
destroyed in the south of the country
the Kremlin spokesperson has denied that
Russia was responsible well this video
that was treated by Ukraine's president
zielinski shows the breached kakovka
hydroelectric Dam Mr zielinski says that
this confirms for the whole world that
the Russians must be expelled from every
corner of Ukrainian land
but the two sides have blamed each other
for its destruction Kiev has accused
Russia of blowing up the dam to slow
Ukraine's offensive by making it hard to
cross the nepro river Russia says that
Ukraine is to blame but regardless of
who or what caused the explosion it has
potentially deadly consequences for the
towns and villages in the path of the
water BBC verify is now working to
establish the timeline of events and
there was already some damage to the dam
before today's developments we can see
in these satellite images that were
shared by the space technology company
Maxa a road that was visible in late May
is no longer there and these are images
taken on Sunday the substantial breach
is also visible new images from Today
Show just portions of the destroyed Dam
protruding from the current one with the
full scale of the disaster only
beginning to unfold now well these
images are from areas Downstream they
show the scale of the flooding the
Russian installed mayor of the Town
immediately next to the dam says the
water level there has already risen to
11 meters well let's speak now to our
diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams
who's live in Kiev and Paul will come on
to the implications of this in just a
second but what do we know about what
was behind the collapse of this crucial
Dam
well as you say there was signs of a
breach uh in the dam over the weekend
but something happened overnight to
result in a fairly catastrophic breach
which is now perhaps as wide as 100 or
200 meters uh across so whether that was
the result of an earlier uh damage and
that that resulted in in a structural
collapse or at the result of a
deliberate attempt to blow it up once
and for all we just don't know at the
moment I think I would point out that as
you mentioned in the introduction if you
look at who had a motivation to bring
this Dam down don't forget that there
was a road across that Dam until
yesterday and at a time when the
Ukrainian Army is on the offensive it's
really only logical that the Russians
would have a reason for that Dam and for
that road to be uh to be removed because
from if you look at a map from south of
the city of zapparesia that time
represented the only viable Crossing
from one side of the danipro river to
the other so as the Russians contemplate
a series of Ukrainian advances along a
very broad front it was logical that
they would be worried about that Dam
yes and Paul there are two serious
implications of this uh collapse of the
dam one Upstream of course for the
zapparesia nuclear plant we're told that
water levels there are falling and that
water is needed to cool the plant the UN
though says for now that's safe but
Downstream 24 towns and Villages now in
the path of flood water
yes it's going
to schedule we get a sense of exactly
how many people have been affected by
this don't forget that until fairly
recently this was the front line and
there was a lot of shelling and sniping
across the river in both directions and
so it is possible that some of those
communities that we have seen inundated
in images today may have been somewhat
partially or perhaps even completely
evacuated we just don't know further
Downstream around 80 kilometers or so
you have the big city of Herson which of
course fell to Ukrainian forces back in
November there there is sign of flooding
too it's not nearly as acute as it is
closer to the dam but the authorities
have not taken any chances and they are
evacuating people particularly elderly
residents from some of the lower lying
parts of that City so I think it'll be a
little while before we understand the
exact consequences of what the Ukrainian
government is calling Eco side because
all along that River and particularly on
the South Side there are highly
sensitive uh
ecological areas there's a biosphere
down on the South Bank opposite Hassan
which could have been severely damaged
by this flooding so we'll need to watch
that and see what happens as you say on
the other side of the dam at zapparesia
that is obviously a source of concern it
has been a source of concern for the
un's nuclear Watchdog the iaea for a
year or more now at the moment
the cooling facilities the pond that
cools the spent rods that keeps the
whole nuclear power system cool that
that is intact
no immediate danger but the level of the
reservoir is falling the last I heard by
around five centimeters an hour and that
could over time result in another
problem Paul it's good to have you with
us thank you Paul Adams that live in
Kiev so Paul touched on what could
happen next well the Ukrainian foreign
minister that's dimitro kaleba says that
the International Community needs to
hold Russia to account
president zielinski immediately convened
the National Security and defense
Council of Ukraine Ukrainian law
enforcement and emergency services are
working hard to mitigate the
consequences and save lives
Ukraine calls an emergency meeting of
the United Nations security Council and
brings the issue of the Russian
terrorist act to the international
atomic energy agency's Board of
Governors
we will also cooperate with the EU civil
protection mechanism and other
International mechanisms to mitigate
consequences and bring Russia to account
in light of developments on the
battlefield Russia's deliberate and
long-planned terrorist act turned to the
man-made flood into a weapon
what we've heard also from the former
prime minister of Ukraine that's awesome
he's been giving his reaction to what is
now unfolding around the dam on the
nepro river so you know this is another
part of the Russian military tactics and
strategy against Ukraine this comprises
everything including humanitarian
disasters and catastrophe and the
man-made disasters that Russia inflicted
on Ukraine you know it resembles me the
letter of Nazi leader Himmler that he
sent in 1943 to then govern the
so-called governor of Ukraine when they
were retreating from the Ukrainian
territory in his letter he said that
look we need to leave a scorched Earth
in Ukraine kill everything including
even animals so Putin and his policy is
a copycat scenario of Nazi policy and
this constitutes definitely an
international and War crime and this is
in complete violation with the article
56 of Geneva Convention but Putin
doesn't care about the international law
what he cares about he cares about his
imperialistic stupid uh thinking and
ideas
how to take over Ukraine and how to
restore the Soviet Union
so this is a huge disaster and another
challenge for Ukraine and other threat
for the entire world
so that's the former prime minister of
Ukraine let's take you live to the
region we can speak to alexco who's an
MP for the uh Odessa region in Ukraine
um I'd like to see thank you for being
with us
um you I understand are right by the
river um and I'm seeing behind you and
those Waters look very high just tell us
what you can see right now
yeah hello I am standing in the I am in
the city of Houston in the center of the
city on the other side you can see this
is the park
of glory and this is the monument for
victory victory over Nazism and as you
see again this land is suffering from
Nazis this time Russian Nazis which
committed an awful crime this is the
level of water just even in this morning
here were several meters
we already have more several meters here
of water raised before here was a
passage you see the trees you see the
level of the trees and here are the
steps which were coming to the Nipper
River but we see by our own eyes how the
water is the level of the water is
increasing also you can see how quickly
the water is moving and that is really
very very quickly so that's what's going
on right now here in Hearthstone after
this uh rational for what crime I'm on
Alexi for those that aren't familiar
with the geography maybe just explain if
you can where you are in relation to
that hydroelectric Dam how far away are
you and maybe how long it has taken for
that water level to rise Where You Are
um by direct I think it's near 100
kilometers so it's already what is
already here so it's up to the north and
um this direction is the dam of kahovka
hydroelectric station this direction is
the Black Sea and here is the river and
the level is coming up because all these
huge amount of water which were stopped
by the dam now is moving to to the Sea
by the way you I smell
um there is a smell of an oil machine
oil you know engine oil because more
than 150 tons of engine oil at least now
is in the water or engine oil from the
dam and we maybe more will will come
because there is more 300 tons more so
this is a huge ecological catastrophe
with that the consequences will last for
decades after what had happened and that
is again according to genev Convention
such attacks on Hydra Electro
stations it equals the using of mass
destruction Weaponry nuclear weaponry
chemical Weaponry because the
consequences are so awful and that and
the lives of tens of thousands of people
on both sides of the river now I'm
standing on the right side of the river
which is controlled by Ukraine at this
direction maybe here there were already
several explosions during our
conversation this is the side of the
river Left Bank of the river is
controlled by Russian army but people on
the both Banks now are endangered their
lives are endangered we are speaking
about thousands and thousands of people
already Ukraine is evacuating people
from hereson
um and Alexi um there is a suggestion uh
that this this dam was taken out because
it had a road a road that crossed across
the top of the dam and it would allow
movements of troops or Weaponry across
that Dam talk to me about the logistics
of where you are how many Crossing
places are there on the river because we
are told that this was a pretty key
Crossing Point
now there is no Crossing points the
closest is the Antonov Bridge which is
very close to here with just several
kilometers but it is it was blown up
Russians blue he destroyed it when they
were retreating from Kirsten in the end
of last year so there is no one Crossing
Point here and up to them and the dam
was the only crossing point which
Russians destroyed but even I mean they
are so barbaric they just yeah if they
try by this to stop Ukrainian offensive
not to let Ukrainian Army to use this
Dam to get on the another bank they
could just mine it or they could just
control it I mean that is a very narrow
it's like a you know a long bridge and
but but to destroy it and to have such
awful consequences like it's it's
absolutely barbaric they call this land
their land they they announced that
Kirsten is part of Russia but in reality
they are just just destroying completely
all these land and and that is a Russian
Warfare style barbaric Warfare Style
um Alexi thank you for being with us and
being able to show us what's happening
where you are in case on there uh that's
Alexi gone to renko thank you
um so I just want to show you some more
pictures that are coming into us here at
the BBC to get a sense of that flooding
uh and the speed at which those waters
are moving quite clearly here a house
being carried down the river as those
Waters rise Downstream we saw the impact
there in her song
um some suggestions at the water levels
uh immediately surrounding that collapse
Dam now 11 or 12 meters higher than they
would normally be and of course as the
water levels rise Downstream there it
causes problems Upstream as that Lake
that Reservoir that was held behind the
dam begins to drain it causes potential
problems for the zaparasia nuclear plant
that is located Upstream of that so
we're getting a sense today of the
geography of that area and as we're
hearing there about that that dam was a
key crossing point on the river so so an
important point for perhaps troops and
weaponry as part of this uh
counter-offensive that we've talked a
lot about the Ukrainian fight back
continuing and this could be very much
related to that well Moscow has denied
any involvement in the collapse of that
Dam let's speak to our Russia editor
Steve Rosenberg who is in Moscow what is
the Kremlin saying Steve
yeah well it's 180 degrees difference
really we've heard that Ukraine has been
accusing Russia Russia is accusing
Ukraine so for example uh State
television here in Russia Today Was
describing what had happened as a
Ukrainian terrorist attack and a short
while ago we did get some reaction from
the Kremlin President Putin's spokesman
Dimitri peskov said he strongly rejected
the accusation that Russia had blown up
the dam he described what had happened
as a deliberate Act of sabotage by the
Ukrainian side designed he claimed to
deprive Crimea of a water supply Crimea
the Ukrainian Peninsula that Russia
annexed from Ukraine back in in 2014. he
also seemed to suggest that this alleged
sabotage was designed to distract
attention from what he described as a
faltering Ukrainian counter-offensive
yeah and Steve it's about logistics
perhaps here too isn't it because we
know that counter-offensive uh you know
Ukraine will never confirm or deny that
it's begun but it certainly seems like
there is more fighting in key areas and
that part of Ukraine is so vital uh
given its strategic location uh along
the east of the country and it could be
about that being a key Crossing Point
either to separate troops or to
facilitate their movement
it could be there's a lot of speculation
about that it's still unclear and as I
say Russian officials insisting that it
wasn't us we didn't do this uh and
pointing the finger back pointing the
finger back is something that Russia
often does usually does whenever this
country is accused of anything
particularly by countries uh with which
it is in conflict with whether we're
talking about the Salisbury poisonings
or or doping in sport or the the war in
Ukraine