Devastating footage has emerged from Kherson in Ukraine where a dam has been destroyed by an explosion.
The wall of the major dam has collapsed – triggering floods, endangering Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war rushed to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the emergency.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area.
It was not possible to verify the claims.
The potentially far-reaching environmental and social consequences of the disaster quickly became clear as homes, streets and businesses flooded downstream and emergency crews began evacuations, officials raced to check cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and authorities expressed concern about supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Devastating footage of the impacted areas has since emerged, with this Sky News report giving a glimpse at the damage:
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