3 people died when a boat was fired upon during an evacuation near Kherson

Three people died, from 10 to 23, according to various reports, were injured in the Kherson region as a result of shelling of a boat in which evacuated civilians were being transported from the left bank of the Dnieper, controlled by Russia, to the right bank, controlled by Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials are accused of shelling the Russian military.

“They opened fire in the backs of civilians,” Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, wrote in a telegram. Initially, he wrote about six victims. Then he reported that three people died as a result of the shooting, and ten were wounded.

“A 74-year-old man, when the enemy opened fire, covered the woman with his own body. The Russians shot him in the back. He died from the wounds he received, the doctors did not have time to help him,” Prokudin wrote, in particular.

The Kherson regional prosecutor’s office also reported three deaths, but cited the second number of victims – 23 people. The Ukrainian authorities claim that most of the evacuees from the left bank are elderly and people with reduced mobility. “It was a big risk, but we could not leave people to their fate,” the national police said in a statement.

Russian representatives have not yet commented on the accusations of shelling. Earlier, they themselves accused Ukraine of shelling evacuation points.

• People in the Kherson region are being evacuated due to large-scale flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam on the night of June 6. The overflowing Dnieper flooded dozens of settlements on both the right and left banks. On the left, the flooded territory is larger. Volunteers helping people wrote about difficulties with evacuation in Russian-controlled territories.
• Both sides report that there are dead. Dozens of people are listed as missing. In a number of settlements, the water level has already begun to decrease, but many still remain in the flood zone.
• At the same time, upstream of the Dnieper, the water level in the Kakhovsky reservoir dropped sharply – it actually disappeared, the Dnieper is returning to its natural course. The drop in the water level in the reservoir led to problems with water supply in Kryvyi Rih, Marganets and Nikopol.
• Ukraine accuses Russia of deliberately undermining the dam. The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Anna Malyar, reported that the Russian military blew up the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam to prevent the Ukrainian army from advancing in the Kherson region.
• Russia previously denied all accusations of purposeful detonation of the dam, and in turn accused Ukraine of sabotage. At the same time, the Russian side did not present evidence. There is also a version that the dam collapsed not as a result of an explosion.
• Western countries have not yet officially declared which version they consider the most likely, but noted that it was Russia’s actions that led to the threat to the Kakhovskaya HPP – such a threat would not have existed if Russia had not launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.