We’re going to pause today’s coverage of the flooding in southern Ukraine - thanks for joining us.

If you want to read more, here's a few suggestions of where to look:

• Ukrainian officials are now warning of serious long-term consequences for agriculture across the country's farmland
• Here's what we know on the dam incident so far
• Maps and before and after images reveal scale of disaster

Today’s coverage was brought to you by Marita Moloney, Emily McGarvey, Jasmine Andersson, Emily Atkinson, Adam Durbin, Kateryna Khinkulova and Jennifer McKiernan.

Image source, Reuters

We're pausing our live coverage shortly but here's a recap of the main developments in Ukraine:

• Rescue efforts continue after the Kakhovka dam breach, which has flooded 30 communities along the Dnipro river
• Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling flood evacuees as thousands are removed from affected areas neighbouring the Dnipro river

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the flooded region, and is appealing for international aid

• Meanwhile, the Red Cross has warned of dislodged landmines floating downstream which could "pose a risk to people for decades to come"
• Russia claims to have stopped an overnight offensive in Zaporizhzhia region involving 1,500 Ukrainian troops

• Elsewhere in Washington, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the UK is "still establishing definitively the cause of the attack on the dam" in Ukraine.

The breach of the Kakhovka dam presents a "massive ecological catastrophe" both inside Ukraine and beyond its borders, an environmental campaigner has warned.

Ukrainian environmental lawyer and climate justice campaigner, Svitlana Romanko, told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme that the ramifications of the major flooding will "exacerbate the negative effect of climate change" across the globe.

The dam held back a huge reservoir, which she described as "a huge source of renewable energy... and irrigation".

"It will impact food security all over the world," Romanko said.

"We have huge areas of contaminated waters and land. We have lost national parks, flora and fauna, species, and habitats. Not all of them will be restored - the damage is irreversible," she said.

You can listen to Romanko's comments in full here.

Natalia Zotova, Ekaterina Sedlyarova & Kateryna Khinkulova
BBC World Service

Image source, EPA

We've been looking at how people in the Russian-occupied areas of Kherson are coping with the vast floods that have affected it.

Arkady is from the town of Oleshky in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson region.

In November 2022 he and his mother left the town for Russia but his 73 year old father stayed. On the day the dam was breached, Arkady phoned his father and told him to pack and leave immediately.

“I said 'just grab your documents and jump in the car'. This was at 08:00 am. Two hours later, electricity was gone and so was mobile connection. I couldn’t reach him," he says.

“Only a few hours later I heard from neighbours and friends that he hadn’t had time to leave and was waiting for rescue on the roof of his house.”

Arkady says his father wanted to stay to look after the family’s two dogs and make sure the house didn’t get looted.

“Now everything is under water - most of the house and the car.”

Dnipro’s left bank, occupied by Russia in the Kherson region, is lower than the right and it is estimated that the damage caused by the dam breach could be even more severe than to the Ukraine-controlled area.

Image source, Reuters

Stranded local residents have clung to their roofs for three days waiting to be rescued after the Kakhovka dam breach, a Ukrainian journalist reporting on the disaster has said.

Ukrainian rescue teams are struggling to reach families trapped in the small town of Oleshky, one of the settlements controlled by the Russians, a reporter for independent Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske Diana Butsko said.

"No-one is coming to save them because the Russians abandoned them, and the Ukrainians can’t reach the area because it’s very dangerous and controlled by the Russians," Butsko told the BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

While "the water may go away in a few days," she said that the damages to buildings and homes "are horrific".

"There were kids, cats, dogs, all sorts of animals rescued, and they’ve been trapped there for two days," she added.

Correction 19 September 2025: This post originally said that Russians in Oleshky were waiting to be rescued and has now been changed to say local residents.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Ukraine’s counter-offensive, which seemed to start in earnest on Monday, is still gathering pace.

The long-running battle for Bakhmut is now part of that offensive. Ukraine says its forces are making progress.

Hoping, perhaps, to cut off Russian troops in the city. Russia says its soldiers still controls the city. But these battles just outside seem intense.

Ukraine’s main effort is likely to be further south, near the shattered city of Vuhledar. It’s been on the front line for months. A dire existence for those hardy civilians who remain.

Ukraine is deliberately saying very little about its military plans. Keeping its enemy guessing. We know there’s heavy fighting not far away, but we don’t know who’s winning.

Some Russian and Western officials have suggested that Ukraine has launched its long-awaited counter-offensive this week, but Kyiv has not publicly confirmed this.

Ukrainian officials have said their forces were ready for a long-expected counter-offensive, but that there would be no formal announcement when it begins.

Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said its forces repelled an overnight offensive by 1,500 Ukrainian troops trying to break through the frontline in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Shoigu said four separate Ukrainian attacks along the front had been halted and Kyiv's forces had been forced to retreat "with heavy losses".

The Zaporizhzhia region, which is under 80% Russian control, forms part of the so-called "land bridge" that connects the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian Donbas area with Crimea. Breaking the land bridge has been widely seen as one of Ukraine's main objectives for its counter-offensive.

Image source, Reuters

A woman who grew up in Nova Kakhovka, where the dam collapsed two days ago, says she feels her family history has been "washed away" by the devastating floods across Kherson.

Kate Zhuzha, founder of the NGO Union of Help to Kherson, who still has family living in the area, told of the impact the floods are having on her hometown, after thousands were forced to flee their homes.

"On the very first morning when I woke up and I saw it, it just, it really felt like our roots are being washed away like our entire childhood is being taken by that water," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme.

"And it is really heartbreaking because the dam and the hydroelectric station, this is [the] history of almost everyone in the town," Zhuzha added.

"I don’t know how we are all going to get through it."

The BBC's James Waterhouse has been on a boat journey through the flooded streets of Ukraine's Kherson region.

Street lights and buildings pass by, and the remains of what was a a town square can be seen.

As we've been reporting, Russia and Ukraine have been trading allegations over attacks today.

Earlier, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region claimed that two settlements were attacked by drones.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukraine's armed forces used kamikaze drones to attack the village of Vyazove. No fatalities were reported but he said one man received shrapnel wounds.

Belgorod, which borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has seen some of the most significant cross-border raids since the war began in recent weeks.

Last month, Moscow claimed it defeated armed insurgents who crossed the border from Ukraine to launch attacks in the Belgorod region.

Kyiv has denied involvement in previous attacks across the border, which it says were carried out by Russian anti-government groups.

Image source, .

Elsewhere in Washington, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the UK is "still establishing definitively the cause of the attack on the dam" in Ukraine.

He called the breach an "appalling act" that had affected hundreds of thousands of people and said the UK was "playing our part" to support Ukrainians in their response.

Sunak, who was in the US to meet President Joe Biden, described the invasion of Ukraine as an “illegal unprovoked act of aggression” on Russia's part.

He was also asked about the warning from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the UK’s help for Ukraine made British officials a “legitimate military target”. You can watch his response below:

We're getting more details now about the reported shelling in Kherson, where Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling evacuation points affected by mass flooding after the Kakhovka dam breach.

At least one civilian has been killed by Russian shelling in Kherson, the city's prosecutor's office said.

"Due to targeted strikes by the occupiers during evacuations in the city, a civilian died. Two more people were wounded," the prosecutor's office said, adding that four locals were injured by shelling in a nearby village.

Earlier, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of killing two people by shelling an evacuation point in a Russian-controlled part of the region.

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent, reporting from Kherson

We're heading south along the Dnipro river with Victor and Vitali who've been doing runs all morning, picking up people trapped in these buildings, and the body of water is vast.

There are protruding trees everywhere, these are people who've been trapped here for two days and because of the weight of the water their doors have been forced shut.

Victor says some people don't want to leave their homes. "This is normal for Ukraine," he says. "One year and six months I do this for free," referring to helping to evacuate people and deliver food and medicine to those trapped.

Victor is shouting "evacuation" to try and get people's attention. It's like being in some bizarre theme ride at a water park but of course, it is far from that.

He's trying to get the attention of the animals that are trapped as well. Victor says the problem is that people trapped don't have light, gas nothing.

If we were to go much further south we'd enter the grey zone which neither Russia or Ukraine has any control, it's incredibly dangerous. These guys came under fire this morning, it's such a tall order for the community here.

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine is reporting that at least three people have been wounded following Russian shelling of Kherson today.

"The shelling began precisely during the evacuation of citizens whose homes were flooded," Ukraine's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

It reiterated accusations that Russia has abandoned people in territory it has occupied in the Kherson region, adding: "And it continues to prevent Ukraine from saving the most valuable - human lives."

Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling flooded areas where people are being evacuated.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims.

More now on the claims being made by the Kremlin that Ukraine is targeting evacuation points in Kherson.

The Moscow-installed head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said on Telegram that two people died after Ukraine shelled a civilian evacuation point which was flooded after the dam breach.

"Fighters from the Kyiv regime committed a heinous crime. They shelled a civilian evacuation point in Gola Prystan. Two people were killed, including a 33-year-old pregnant woman. Two more people were wounded," he wrote.

The BBC has not verified these claims.

Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of shelling the southern city of Kherson, where people are being evacuated from widespread flooding following the breach of the Kakhovka dam.

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of shelling rescue workers in flooded areas, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that Russian rescue workers are "forced to work in conditions of ongoing shelling from Ukraine, and this complicates their work".

He did not provide evidence to back up these claims.

Meanwhile, the regional governor of Kherson Oleksandr Prokudin claimed that Russian forces shelled the city and nearby coastal areas.

Yesterday, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of shelling rescue workers on the Kyiv-held right (west) bank of the Dnipro river - Moscow controls the left (east) bank.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims.

Image source, Reuters

It's been two days since the breach of the Kakhovka dam, which caused widespread floods in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and forced thousands of people from their homes.

Here's a brief overview of what's been happening today:

• President Zelensky has visited the flood-hit region, where 600 square kilometres - an area about ten times the size of Manhattan - is underwater
• Zelensky says the priority now is to "protect lives" and he has been critical of what he called a slow response from international agencies, including the UN
• Ukraine media is saying three people have drowned in Kherson, while state-owned Russian media is reporting five deaths. The BBC has not verified these figures
• Meanwhile, the Red Cross has warned of dislodged landmines floating downstream which could pose a risk to people for decades to come

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, in Ukraine

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian officials are warning of serious long-term consequences for agriculture across one of the country's most fertile areas.

The country could lose several million tonnes of crops because of the flooding, its agriculture ministry said today.

The agriculture ministry has predicted that fields in southern Ukraine could "turn into deserts as early as next year", as vital irrigation systems, which depend on the vast Kakhovka reservoir, cease to function.

The reservoir is fast disappearing, sending an estimated 4.4 cubic miles of water roaring down the Dnipro River towards the Black Sea.

Before the war, the ministry says, 31 irrigation systems provided water for 584,000 hectares (more than 2,200 square miles) of farmland.

The Kherson region is among Ukraine's most fertile and productive.

Was an explosion responsible for the dam breach?published at 12:04 BST 8 June 2023

12:04 BST 8 June 2023

Image source, Reuters

We've been looking at some theories as to what caused the breach of the Kakhovka dam.

Another theory suggested by from some - including Ukraine’s state energy company - is that an explosion could have been responsible.

Chief engineer Mykola Kalinin says the dam was “mined from the inside", adding that "the dam was designed and built to withstand a super-powerful impact from the outside". "But not from the inside," Kalinin adds.

While there is no clear evidence yet, “there are signs that point towards a deliberate act by Russia, including US intelligence”, says Wim Zwijnenburg, an expert who monitors the environmental impact of the war in Ukraine.

Moscow may have attacked the dam because it feared Ukrainian forces could use the nearby road to get troops across the river as part of a counter-offensive.

However, the dam’s partial destruction is hard to assess on satellite imagery alone, given much of the damage will be underwater.

“At this stage nobody knows except those on the ground, all else is speculation," Mark Mulligan, professor of physical geography at University College London, adds.

BBC Verify will continue to look for evidence on the cause of the breach.

There are no plans for President Vladimir Putin to visit the Russian-occupied areas of Kherson affected by the flooding, the Kremlin has said.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that the Russian president was monitoring the situation.