Ukraine war: Inside Kherson’s flood zone, desperate evacuees are fleeing artillery attacks as well as rising waters

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2023

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There are several possible war crimes playing out in real-time in southern Ukraine and the world is watching as the tragedy unfolds, following the destruction of a major dam.

We were at one of the flood evacuation points in Kherson when it came under attack – targeting those just rescued; the rescuers; the relief teams and the journalists covering the emergency.

There was immediate panic as everyone rushed to take cover – scattering against walls, running downstairs to basements and cowering in doorways.

“Everyone move!”, a volunteer shouted to his team. “Prepare to pack up.”

Panic at flood evacuation point – live updates

As they scrambled to carry cages filled with bedraggled, sodden animals to safety, and break down and pack up their temporary food and water shelters, the attacks kept coming in – an artillery barrage and rockets levelled at aid workers, as well as the scared and the desperate who they were caring for.

We saw two volunteers trying to carry one of their few dinghies being used in the rescue efforts – before dropping it and running as another rocket screamed overhead.

Hours earlier, the Ukrainian leader visited one of the evacuation points in Kherson to support the relief effort.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already urged global leaders to do more to rally around and help, castigating the international organisations for what he deems as their sluggish response.

‘I’m not afraid of anything anymore’

The same evacuation point came under repeated attack after he left.

We were given footage filmed by one soldier as they took an injured civilian to safety on a stretcher.

Frail old women were shepherded to shelter along walls as the ominous sounds of an artillery barrage rumbled on.

But 74-year-old Larissa brushed it all off.

“They bombed my apartment before new year,” she told us. “We’ve been through it all. I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”

The first flooding deaths are now being reported.

Tragically, they will not be the last.

Ukrainian media said three people had died in the Kherson region as a result of flooding.

But the Ukrainian president has pointed out it is “impossible to predict how many people will die” in the Russian-controlled areas of Kherson.

Reports from those who have managed to flee from there to the Ukrainian side told us the Russian troops appeared as shocked as they were at the dam explosion and subsequent floods.

They said the Russian troops told them they expected to be evacuated.

But when that didn’t happen, the residents saw some of the Russian troops swimming to get away.

Tearful reunions interrupted by attacks

A family of six, including two children and a kitten, wept with relief at being reunited with their relatives on the Ukrainian-held side of Kherson.

They told of sheltering in the loft of their home in the Russian-occupied village of Kardashynka until their whole house started crumbling as the waters kept rising.

“You’re home. You’re home,” their waiting relative said repeatedly as she hugged them over and over.

The family thought they had fled to safety in Ukrainian territory – surviving shelling, the flood zone and currents to make it to the other side.

But a short time later, all those newly rescued, as well as those trying to help them, came under multiple and random attacks.

This is a war zone.

The waters have washed over entire areas of the battlefield.

The Ukrainian rescue operation is going on in the midst of artillery fire and shelling – and the threat of mines.

We’ve spent the last few days since the Nova Kakhova dam burst – and sent a torrent of water cascading either side of the Dnipro river – witnessing the devastation and desperation it has already wrought on humans, animals and the landscape.

The Ukrainian president says there may be about 100 communities, villages and towns, including Kherson city, affected.

Aerial pictures taken from several drones show huge swathes of what were once residential areas now underwater – covered in sewage and debris, mixed with chemicals and toxins and there are reports of oil too.

President Zelenskyy first described it as “ecocide” – then an environmental bomb of mass destruction.

He may well be underestimating the massive effect this is going to have on the land, countryside and people.

A horrifyingly slow misery

It’s actually difficult to overstate just how much of a tragedy this is – and the full scale of what’s happened will probably not be felt or even properly assessed for some time.

Immediately though, right in front of us, on an hourly basis, we are seeing the human and animal suffering and cost.

But it’s a slow, drawn-out misery.

Depressingly, horrifyingly slow.

The steady filling-up of streets is even taking the residents by surprise.

The waters keep rising – for the first 12 or so hours by 10-12cm per hour.

By yesterday, that had slowed to 1-2cm an hour.

The waters are expected to stay high for another four to five days, though.

And the average flood level of the water is about 5.6 metres (about 18ft), according to the governor of Kherson Oblast.

That’s enough to cover the tops of street signs and reach the tip of roofs.

The residents have been living in areas where the rumble of artillery and mortar firing, of explosions and shells dropping, has been a constant, frightening, deadly backdrop.

And those who have stuck it out, those who have resolutely refused to be pushed out by the fighting and war – and then refused to budge because of the flooding – are now coming under fire as they finally give up their homes to the rising waters.

We saw videos filmed by the rescuers themselves showing the waters around them punctured by artillery strikes throwing huge showers of water into the air as they tried to keep their balance on tiny dinghies, clutching to still-visible rooftops peeking out from the waters.

It’s difficult to imagine it getting much more frightening or miserable for these people.

Alex Crawford is reporting from Kherson, with cameraman Jake Britton and producers Chris Cunningham and Artem Lysak

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Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy enters prison for five-year sentence

Published

3 hours ago

October 21, 2025

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Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy enters prison for five-year sentence

Nicolas Sarkozy declared his innocence and held hands with his wife before entering prison to begin his five-year sentence.

The 70-year-old was pictured with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on Tuesday morning ahead of travelling to Paris’ La Sante prison.

He was found guilty last month of criminal conspiracy over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential election campaign with funds from Libya.

Hundreds of supporters chanted “Nicolas, Nicolas” and sang the French national anthem as he left his home this morning and stepped into the car that would take him to jail.

It caps a stunning downfall of the man who led France between 2007 and 2012.

Sarkozy’s sons and daughter, Jean, Pierre, Louis and Giulia, and his grandchildren showed up at the gathering.

As he prepared to begin his prison term, he posted a message on social media repeating his claims that he is an “innocent man” and said he feels a “deep sorrow for France”.

He will be the first former French leader to be jailed since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after the Second World War.

In his statement, Sarkozy said: “As I prepare to cross the walls of La Sante prison, my thoughts go out to the French people of all walks of life and opinions,” he said.

“I want to tell them with my unwavering strength that it is not a former President of the Republic who is being locked up this morning, it is an innocent person.”

He added: “I feel deep sorrow for France, which finds itself humiliated by the expression of a vengeance that has taken hatred to an unprecedented level. I have no doubt. The truth will triumph. But the price to pay will have been crushing.”

Parisian resident Michelle Perie, 67, said she came out to support “because there is anger, injustice”.

“He’s not like any other defendants, he’s someone who holds state secrets, he’s someone who has always done his job with his head held high. We don’t understand,” she said.

Sarkozy’s lawyers said he will be held in solitary confinement, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons.

The former president told French newspaper Le Figaro he would take three books with him, including Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the hero escapes from an island prison before seeking revenge.

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Gunman who shot Slovak PM sentenced to 21 years in jail

Published

3 hours ago

October 21, 2025

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Gunman who shot Slovak PM sentenced to 21 years in jail

A man who shot and badly wounded Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been given a 21-year jail sentence after being found guilty of terrorism charges.

Juraj Cintula, 72, opened fire on Mr Fico in May 2024, hitting him five times from little more than a one-metre distance as the prime minister greeted supporters in the central Slovak town of Handlová.

Cintula, who was acting alone, said he had not intended to kill Mr Fico and claimed his motive was that he disagreed with government policies.

The Slovakian leader, 64, was seriously injured in the attack. He was struck in the abdomen and also sustained wounds to his hip, hand and foot. He was rushed to hospital and immediately underwent five-hour long surgery.

Mr Fico has since recovered and made his first public appearance a few months after the attack.

The shooting and subsequent trial have shaken this small, European Union and NATO-member country, where populist Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure. He’s often been criticised for straying from Slovakia’s pro-Western path and aligning it closer to Russia.

Cintula was arrested immediately after the attack. When questioned by investigators, he rejected the accusation of being a “terrorist”.

In testimony read out at his trial, Cintula stated: “I decided to harm the health of the prime minister but I had no intention to kill anyone.”

He added that he was relieved when he learned the prime minister survived.

“The defendant did not attack a citizen, but specifically the prime minister,” Igor Králik, the head of the three-judge panel, said in delivering the verdict.

“He was against the government, he was inciting people to overthrow the government.”

Cintula can still appeal the verdict, but it was not immediately clear if he would do so.

In the aftermath of the attack, Mr Fico said he “had no reason to believe” the attack was the work of just one person and repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt. There is no evidence for that.

The Slovak leader had previously said he “had no reason to believe” it was an attack by a lone deranged person.

He repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt, although no evidence was provided for these claims.

Populist Mr Fico returned to power for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won the 2023 parliamentary election after campaigning on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.

Thousands have repeatedly rallied in Bratislava and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s pro-Russian stance and other policies.

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Japan’s parliament votes in country’s first ever female PM

Published

11 hours ago

October 21, 2025

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Japan's parliament votes in country's first ever female PM

Japan’s parliament has voted in the country’s first ever female prime minister.

Sanae Takaichi won 237 votes in the 465-seat lower chamber of parliament, and is also set to secure a majority in the less powerful upper house before being sworn in later today.

Tuesday’s votes came after her Liberal Democratic Party agreed to a coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party yesterday.

The last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longterm partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more centrist stance.

Incumbent prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, of Ms Takaichi’s party, announced his resignation last month.

While Ms Takaichi’s election marks the shattering of a glass ceiling for Japan, it also marks a sharp tack to the right.

She is a staunchly conservative figure who cites Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration, and comes to power at a time when the country is increasingly worried about the cost of living and immigration.

Japan is currently grappling with rising prices that have sparked public anger, fuelling support for oppositions groups including the far-right Sanseito party.

Ms Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and she will need to win over other opposition groups to pass any legislation – which could make her government unstable.

She said at Monday’s signing ceremony: “Political stability is essential right now. Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

While she is Japan’s first female PM, Ms Takaichi has previously shown she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity.

She is among the Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women’s advancements and she supports the imperial family’s male-only succession, while opposing same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.