INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Floodwaters in southern Ukraine were expected to crest on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of civilians fleeing in peril from the
destruction of a vast dam that both sides called an act of wartime sabotage.Residents waded through flooded streets carrying children on
their shoulders, dogs in their arms and belongings in plastic bags while rescuers used rubber boats to search areas where the waters reached
Ukraine and Russia each accuse the other of deliberately destroying the Nova Kakhovka dam in desperation at a major turning point in the
flooding and hundreds of thousands will be left without access to drinking water.A roof of a house could be seen whisking in the torrent of
it controls, where many towns and villages lie in lowlands below the dam
Residents there have told Reuters by telephone that Russian troops patrolling the streets in waders were threatening civilians who
approached.A zoo by the riverbank on the Russian side flooded, killing all the animals inside, staff said.The consequences of the disaster
will be felt for decades in southern Ukraine
far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine on both sides of the front line through the loss of homes, food, safe
aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council
said it was still gathering evidence about who was to blame, but that Ukraine would have had no reason to inflict such devastation on
Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood told reporters.SHELLING ACROSS RIVEREven as the evacuation was under way, Russia shelled
Ukrainian-held territory across the river
Cracks of incoming artillery sent people trying to flee running for cover in Kherson
Reuters reporters heard four incoming artillery blasts near a residential neighbourhood where civilians were evacuating on Tuesday evening
The governor said one person was killed.Russia said a Ukrainian drone had struck a town on the opposite bank during evacuations there and
accused the Ukrainian side of continuing shelling despite the flooding.
The vast Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine forms the front line
across the south in a war that reached a turning point this week, with the apparent start of a long-awaited Ukrainian counterattack using
Western tanks.Ukraine has kept largely silent about the counterattack, apart from suggesting troops had advanced around the eastern city of
Russia claims to have thwarted major Ukrainian assaults in heavy fighting along the front since Sunday.The emptying reservoir supplies water
