Ukraine war: Inside Kherson’s flood zone, desperate evacuees are fleeing artillery attacks as well as rising waters
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.
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Ukraine war day 470: Zelenskyy visits Kherson
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.
Dogs were rescued from the flooding
“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.
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Did Russia ‘blow the dam’ early?
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.
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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
World
Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being ‘hit by large wave’
Two Britons are believed to be among more than a dozen people missing after a boat sank in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast.
The yacht, called Sea Story, had 44 people on board, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 13 crew.
Authorities are searching for 16 people, including 12 foreign nationals and four Egyptians, the governor of the Red Sea region said, adding that 28 other people had been rescued.
Preliminary reports suggested a sudden large wave struck the vessel, capsizing it within about five minutes, governor Amr Hanafi said.
“Some passengers were in their cabins, which is why they were unable to escape,” he added in a statement.
Survivors rescued from the Sea Story in Marsa Alam. Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Passengers rescued from sunken tourist boat
The people who were rescued only suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scrapes with none needing hospital treatment.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”
The foreign nationals aboard the 34-metre-long vessel, owned by an Egyptian national, included Americans, Belgians, British, Chinese, Finns, Germans, Irish, Poles, Slovakians, Spanish, and Swiss.
Sea Story had no technical problems, obtained all required permits before the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.
The four-deck, wooden-hulled motor yacht was part of a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam following warnings about rough weather.
Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.
The boat had left Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.
The Sea Story had 44 people on board. File pic: Dive Pro Liveaboard
Some survivors had been airlifted to safety on a helicopter, officials said.
The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, said it has no information on the matter.
According to its maker’s website, the Sea Story was built in 2022.
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The incident comes after the Egyptian Meteorological Authority issued a warning on Saturday about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea.
The organisation had advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.
Some tourist companies have stopped or limited operations on the Red Sea due to the potential dangers from conflicts in the region.
A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.
Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters
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On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.
In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP
He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.
Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
No date had been set for a trial.
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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.
More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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