Russia-Ukraine war live: first Kherson dam flooding deaths; UN nuclear watchdog to strengthen presence at Zaporizhzhia plant | Ukraine

The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that it will strengthen its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant amid concerns over water supplies for cooling the plant’s reactors.

“In view of the IAEA’s intensifying activities under the newly established principles, he will also strengthen the IAEA’s presence at the site, replacing the current team with a larger group travelling with him across the frontline,” the IAEA announced in an update on Wednesday.

It quoted Director General Grossi as saying, “The possible loss of the plant’s main source of cooling water further complicates an already extremely difficult and challenging nuclear safety and security situation”.

The update outlines threats to the water supply for ponds that feed cool the plant’s nuclear reactors. The agency said that it was working to ensure that there was as much cooling water in reserve as possible in the event that it could no longer access the Kakhovka reservoir. The reservoir’s water levels were continuing to drop, the agency said.

It explained that the reservoir’s water levels had already fallen by 2.8 metres since Tuesday, but that the hourly rate of loss had slowed to “ between 5 and 7 centimetres per hour from a peak of around 11 cm/hour yesterday”.

“If the level falls below 12.7 metres, the ZNPP will no longer be able to pump water from the reservoir to the site.” it said, adding that this level could be reached in two days.

“Preparing for such a possibility, the ZNPP is continuously replenishing its water reserves – including the large cooling pond next to the plant as well as its smaller sprinkler cooling ponds and the adjacent channels – by fully utilising the water of the Kakhovka reservoir while this still remains possible.”

Three people have died as a result of flooding from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, local media have reported, in what would be the first confirmed deaths, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy voiced fears for the lives of Ukrainians in Russian-held areas hit by the disaster.

Citing the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, Yevhen Ryshchuk, the Kyiv Independent reported that “three people drowned” in the Kherson region.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

At least three people have been confirmed dead as a result of flooding from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, Ukrainian media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in Kherson region.

And the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that it will strengthen its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant amid concerns over water supplies for cooling the plant’s reactors.

More on these stories shortly. Here are the other key recent developments:

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address that it was impossible to predict how many people would die in Russian-occupied areas due to the flooding, urging a “clear and rapid reaction from the world” to support victims. “The situation in occupied parts of the Kherson region is absolutely catastrophic. The occupiers are simply abandoning people in frightful conditions. No help, without water, left on the roofs of houses in submerged communities,” he said. “If an international organisation is not present in the disaster zone, it means it does not exist at all or is incapable.”

• Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been left “without normal access to drinking water” after the destruction, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned. The Ukrainian leader said the evacuation of people and the urgent provision of drinking water were top priorities.

• The World Bank will support Ukraine by conducting a rapid assessment of damages and needs, a top bank official said on Wednesday. Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s managing director for operations, said the destruction of the Novo Kakhovka dam had “many very serious consequences for essential service delivery and the broader environment.”

• Drone footage showed roads and buildings in Kherson completely submerged by flood water. The critical dam, which lies along the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s Kherson region – now held by Russia – collapsed on Tuesday, flooding a swathe of the war’s frontline.

• The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told Putin in a phone call on Wednesday that a comprehensive investigation was needed into the destruction of the dam. Erdoğan told Putin that an international commission that includes the UN and Turkey could be formed to look into the issue, a statement from the Turkish president’s office said.

• Britain cannot yet say Russia is responsible for the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, prime minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday. Asked during a visit to the US whether Russia was responsible, Sunak said: “I can’t say that definitively yet” but that “if true it will represent a new low. It’s an appalling act of barbarism on Russia’s part.”

• The US “cannot say conclusively” who was responsible for the destruction of the dam, national security council spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday. “We’re doing the best we can to assess”, he told reporters at the White House, noting “destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed by the laws of war”.

• France will send aid to Ukraine “to meet immediate needs” after the destruction of the dam, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Macron said he expressed solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the aftermath of what he described as an “atrocious act which is endangering populations”.

• A top Moscow-backed official in a part of Ukraine controlled by Russia has said that the collapse of the dam has handed the Russian military a tactical advantage. Vladimir Saldo said he believed Kyiv was to blame for the disaster but that the dam’s destruction and resulting flood waters would make it easier for Russia to defend against any Ukrainian counter-offensive in the area.

• Relief workers on the Ukraine-controlled right bank of the river have reported having to work under fire. The UN’s humanitarian aid agency warned the disaster “will likely get worse in the coming hours”, with access to drinking water and health risks associated with contaminated water among the most pressing concerns.

• Ukraine has not yet launched a planned counteroffensive to win back territory occupied by Russia, a senior Ukrainian security official said on Wednesday. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, dismissed statements by Russian officials who have said the counteroffensive has already begun, adding that its start will be obvious to everyone when it happens.

• Russia’s defence ministry has said “Ukrainian saboteurs” had blown up a section of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline on Monday, which carries fertiliser from Russia to Ukraine in Kharkiv region. There was no immediate comment on the allegations from Ukraine.

• A group of Nato countries may be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine if member states do not provide tangible security guarantees to Kyiv at the alliances’s summit in Vilnius, the former Nato secretary general Anders Rasmussen has said. Current Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance must discuss options for giving Ukraine security assurances for the time after its war with Russia.