Full horrors of Ukraine’s dam disaster revealed as victims dodge floating landmines & apocalyptic floods wash towns away

ENTIRE villages are feared to have been swept away as rescuers desperately try to save civilians from rising flood waters after the Russians allegedly blew up a dam in Ukraine.

Evacuations are underway to clear towns and villages along the banks of the Dnipro River as some 4.8 billion gallons of water hurtle toward the city of Kherson.

Some 80 settlements face being flooded after the Nova Kakhovka dam burst overnight - with flood waters rising at a rate of up to eight inches every hour amid a race against time to save lives.

Ukraine is set to evacuate some 17,000 people from the flooded areas - and the destruction of the dam could be classed as a war crime.

The number of dead, injured, and trapped from the dam blast remains unclear at this stage as the region reels from the unprecedented disaster.

Rescuers are having to use rubber boats to sail between houses as they try to evacuate civilians - but the "unpredictable" situation and surging waters make every moment a challenge.

"No one knows when it will stop - and it's so unpredictable with how fast the water can come," one rescuer, working on the West bank on Dnipro, told The Sun Online.

And the mood among most of the people who have suddenly been forced to leave their homes is simply shellshock as they gather their possessions and pets to leave.

Ukrainian authorities supported by volunteers are using trains and buses to take thousands of refugees to Odessa and Mykolaiv.

And there are also fears the Russians will begin shelling again even as the rescue operations continue.

Floating mines are also an ongoing concern as they washed down the river - potentially exploding as they are hidden beneath murky mud-churned waters.

"They can be washed into villages and cities - they can be anywhere and injure civilians," the rescuer told The Sun Online.

With the fear, however, there is also growing anger against Russia and Vladimir Putin.

He went on: "People are angry and they feel: 'Haven't the Russians done enough?'.

"But now they have taken it to another level and there is no logic in this anymore.

"They don't understand, they are very angry, and they don't know what else the Russians are capable of."

It is estimated many of the towns and villages will be underwater for at least 10 days, while some may have been totally demolished.

Ukraine woke to shocking aerial images this morning of the massive breach in the dam.

Drone footage showed a torrent of water flowing through a massive gaping hole in the dam - sweeping away everything in its path.

Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, a senior official at Ukraine's Kherson military administration, warned that worse was to come.

"Tomorrow there will be a peak (of flooding), then there will be a decline," he told an online media briefing.

"We already evacuated about 1,000 people. We have about 50 buses shuttling between Kherson and the affected villages. In Kherson we have four evacuation sites prepared."

Water levels there had already risen by more than a metre, residents said, and were expected to rise further.

"The water flow in the Dnipro River and its tributaries is very powerful," said Kherson resident Oleksandr Syomyk as he stood beside the swollen river.

"The water level rose by one metre. We'll see what happens next, but we hope for the best."

Both sides have blamed the other - but suspicions firmly lie with the Russians who are believed to have planted bombs on the dam.

Russia may have detonated the dam in an effort to slow the building Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The dam was part of a hydroelectric plant - and also helped provide water to cool the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials said they are monitoring the rapidly developing situation.

IAEA officials said the water level in the reservoir that feeds the plant was rapidly decreasing after the dam breach.

And should the water level fall below 12.7 metres, the station can no longer pump vital cooling water for the reactors.

Ukrainian officials have described the breach as an "ecological disaster".

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the destruction of the Kakhovka dam would have "dire consequences" for people and nature.

Mr Zelensky said he convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council as he accused the Russian's of planting a bomb inside the dam.

The deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said the "ecocide" was "really terrible".

Igor Zhovkva told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme Russia's claims that shelling had caused the damage were "absurd," saying: "I know that there was a blast and it was made on purpose because you cannot ruin this dam (only) by shelling."

The Geneva Conventions and its protocols explicitly ban wartime attacks on "installations containing dangerous forces" such as dams due to the risk posed to civilians.

And the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said it was investigating the devastating of the dam as a war crime and an act of environmental destruction.

"Over 40,000 people are in danger of being flooded. Ukrainian authorities are evacuating over 17,000 people," prosecutor Andriy Kostin, said on social media.

He added that 25,000 more people should be evacuated on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted: "The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act.

"Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.

"The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe."

Downing Street said the UK is "ready to offer humanitarian and economic support" but it is too early to tell what is needed.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman also said he "wouldn't rule out" bringing up the attack with Russia but "at the moment we are looking into the situation".

"None of this would be taking place if it was not for Russia's illegal invasion. We are steadfast in our support," the official said.

Mr Cleverly added he wants the war to quickly come to a conclusion "which is fair, which is right for the people of Ukraine and, of course, is a conclusion which reinforces rather than undermines the UN Charter and the concept of sovereignty and territorial integrity".