<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Thousands of people are being evacuated downstream of a major dam which has collapsed in Russian-held Ukraine.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Volodymyr Zelensky said 80 towns and villages may be flooded after the destruction of the dam at Nova Kakhovka, which he blamed on Russia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Water is surging down the Dnipro river, and is said to pose a catastrophic flooding risk to the city of Kherson.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia has denied destroying the dam - which it controls - instead blaming Ukrainian shelling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Neither Ukraine nor Russia's claim has been verified by the BBC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kakhovka dam, downstream from the huge Kakhovka reservoir, is crucial to the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It provides water to farmers and residents, as well as to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It is also a vital channel carrying water south to Russian-occupied Crimea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine's state-owned hydropower plants administrator Ukrhydroenergo warned that the peak of a water spill downstream from the emptying reservoir was expected on Wednesday morning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said this would be followed by a period of "stabilisation", with the water expected to rapidly recede in four to five days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are concerns about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - Europe's largest - which uses reservoir water for cooling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The situation there is said to be under control and there is "no immediate nuclear safety risk" for the plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video footage shows a torrent of floodwater gushing through a breach in the dam. Several towns are already flooded, while people in areas further downstream have been forced to flee by bus and train.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abound 40,000 people need to be evacuated, Deputy Prosecutor-General Viktoriya Lytvynova said on Ukrainian television - 17,000 people in Ukraine-controlled territory west of the Dnipro River and 25,000 on the Russian-controlled east.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also speaking on Ukrainian television, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said about 1,000 people had been evacuated so far and 24 settlements had been flooded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He accused Russia of shelling the southern region of Kherson, from where people were being evacuated, and issued a warning about the dangers posed by mines being exposed by the rising water levels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One local resident Andriy, who lives close to the dam - which was seized by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 - said he believed Russia wanted to "drown" his city.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Ukraine-controlled city of Kherson, a woman called Lyudmyla - who was loading her belongings including a washing machine onto a trailer that was attached to an old car - said: "We're afraid of flooding. We're taking our things a little higher up."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She called for Russian forces to be "kicked out of here... they're shooting at us. They're flooding us or doing something else".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another resident of the city, Serhiy, said he feared "everything is going to die here".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"All the living creatures, and people will be flooded out," he said, gesturing at nearby houses and gardens.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the Russian-seized riverbank of Nova Kakhovka, the Moscow-installed mayor Vladimir Leontyev said the city was underwater and 900 people had been evacuated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said 53 evacuation buses were being sent by the authorities to take people from the city and two other settlements nearby to safety.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Water levels had risen to over 11m (36ft) and some residents had been taken to hospital, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The small town of Oleshky was also heavily flooded, Kremlin-appointed officials said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kazkova Dibrova zoo on the Russian-held riverbank had been completely flooded and all 300 animals were dead, it said in a post on its Facebook page.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is not yet clear what caused the breach in the dam in the early hours of Tuesday, but Ukraine's military intelligence has accused Russia of deliberately blowing it up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This seems plausible, as Moscow may have feared that Ukrainian forces would use the road over the dam to advance into Russian-held territory, as part of their counter-offensive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For Russia, anxious to defend conquered territory in southern Ukraine, the dam represented an obvious problem.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just as Ukrainian forces attacked road and rail bridges further downstream last autumn in a successful effort to isolate Russian forces in and around Kherson, Russia may have decided to destroy the dam to hold up Ukraine's counter-offensive, which it fears could come from multiple directions. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>