At Least 8 Dead in Kherson Floods as Zelenskyy Visits Region

Facts

• Russian-appointed and Ukrainian officials said at least eight people have died in flooding of the Kherson region after a major dam collapsed earlier in the week.¹
• Russian-appointed officials on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River said five civilians were reported dead from flooding-related causes at this stage, while Ukrainian officials reported the deaths of three people in the Ukrainian-controlled western bank.¹
• Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Ukraine's military administration in Kherson, added that a total of 230 square miles (600 square km) were flooded on both sides of the river. He said that 32% of the flooded territories are in the Ukrainian-controlled western bank while 68% was in Russian-controlled territory to the east.²
• Data from the Technical University of Munich in Germany showed that water levels of the Dnipro River just before the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam were the highest they had been exceeding a period of record starting in 2017, before again receding. The water levels still remain far higher today than at any other time in this dataset.³
• Mikael Valtersson, a military analyst who previously served as an officer in Sweden's armed forces, posted a video from the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station — controlled by Ukraine and directly upstream from the Nova Kakhovka dam — in which water appeared to gush from the station's dam. He alleged this suggested Ukraine's culpability in worsening the flooding, as well as its likely responsibility for the downstream breach.⁴
• Meanwhile, Ukrainian Pres. Zelenskyy visited flood-hit areas of Kherson on Thursday. After receiving updates on ongoing evacuation efforts, he issued rebukes of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, stating, 'If an international organization is not present in the disaster zone, it means it does not exist at all or is incapable.' He added: 'We have had no response. I am shocked.'¹

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²UKRINFORM, ³Dahiti and ⁴Patriots.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Daily Kos. Only Russia would benefit from bringing down the Nova Kakhovka dam. Such a move protects its forces from any Ukrainian offensives in the Kherson region. Ukraine has nothing to gain by causing the floods and harming its own military and economic interests.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Business Insider. Ukraine is responsible for causing the dam collapse, knowing that it has the full backing of its Western partners and that it can act with impunity. Ukrainian officials had even told the Washington Post that it conducted test strikes against the Nova Kakhovka dam to cause the exact consequences we are now seeing.