SWAMPED..80 TOWNS

Thousands forced to flee flood disaster zone | Russians are guilty of mass destruction

- CHRIS HUGHES

THE devastation caused by the destruction of the dam in Ukraine is now clear, with up to 80 towns flooded, 17,000 people forced to flee, and thousands left without water.

President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian forces for blowing up the dam, saying: 'Russia should not get away with such terrorism. This is an environmental bomb of mass destruction’.

As fears grew of an environmental disaster from polluted waters, partly caused by oil leaking from the Kakhovka dam's machinery, it emerged that people came under shelling as they tried to escape with their lives after the dam breached on the Russian-controlled side at around 2am on Tuesday.

Floodwater now covers an estimated 1,000 square miles, roughly the size of Cheshire.

The flooded area is home to an estimated 60,000 people and the Kakhovka reservoir was the water supply for an area that includes the Russian-occupied Crimea Peninsula. The Ukraine and Russian-controlled sides of the Dnipro River have been affected.

Kyiv's forces hold the western bank of the Dnipro, while Russia controls the eastern side, which is lower and more vulnerable to flooding.

Satellite images captured the extent of the breach as heartbreaking pictures emerged of people waiting for help on the roofs of flooded homes.