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Zelensky Visits Ukraine’s Flood Zone, Where Residents See ‘Horror’ Float By Zelensky Visits Ukraine’s Flood Zone, Where Residents See ‘Horror’ Float By
(about 11 hours later)
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited the flood-stricken city of Kherson on Thursday, trying to rally the region’s emergency workers, who were struggling under Russian artillery fire to evacuate thousands of people from cities and settlements left submerged by the destruction of a major dam this week.President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited the flood-stricken city of Kherson on Thursday, trying to rally the region’s emergency workers, who were struggling under Russian artillery fire to evacuate thousands of people from cities and settlements left submerged by the destruction of a major dam this week.
Even as rescue workers took boats through flooded streets to get people to safety, Russian forces assailed the city on Thursday afternoon. Shelling struck near an evacuation point at the heart of Kherson, close to where Mr. Zelensky had stood hours earlier, and sent hundreds of people ducking for cover in floodwaters that have loosed land mines and mixed with toxic material.Even as rescue workers took boats through flooded streets to get people to safety, Russian forces assailed the city on Thursday afternoon. Shelling struck near an evacuation point at the heart of Kherson, close to where Mr. Zelensky had stood hours earlier, and sent hundreds of people ducking for cover in floodwaters that have loosed land mines and mixed with toxic material.
“There was nowhere to hide,” said Serhiy Ludensky, a volunteer from an animal care center, who was on a boat near a flooded square when the shelling struck. The people on the boat managed to break down the door of a flooded dormitory to take shelter there until the explosions stopped. He said he could hear people screaming.“There was nowhere to hide,” said Serhiy Ludensky, a volunteer from an animal care center, who was on a boat near a flooded square when the shelling struck. The people on the boat managed to break down the door of a flooded dormitory to take shelter there until the explosions stopped. He said he could hear people screaming.
The monthslong bombardment of Kherson, which Russian soldiers once occupied in southern Ukraine, has not let up since an explosion on Tuesday at the Kakhovka dam, up the Dnipro River.The monthslong bombardment of Kherson, which Russian soldiers once occupied in southern Ukraine, has not let up since an explosion on Tuesday at the Kakhovka dam, up the Dnipro River.
The blast sent a torrent of water downriver, lifting cars, beds and entire houses out toward the Black Sea. The flooding has swamped a huge area on both sides of the Dnipro, affecting tens of thousands of people across an active war zone that cuts through Russian- and Ukrainian-controlled territory.
“I just saw cars, horses, cows were floating,” said Mykola Shuliuk, 68, who had helped clean up fallout from the Chernobyl disaster in the 1980s. “It’s a horror.”