Minister: At least 17 people killed as a result of Kakhovka disaster

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on June 18 that at least 17 people had been killed as a result of the Kakhovka dam disaster.

A mass humanitarian and ecological disaster unfolded after the Kakhovka dam collapsed on June 6. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the dam was blown up by Russian forces to prevent a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

According to Klymenko, 13 civilians have drowned, and four have been killed by Russian shelling when trying to evacuate. In addition, 31 people are still considered missing.

A total of 3,614 people have been recorded as evacuated, including 474 children. As of June 18, about 880 houses remain flooded.

Klymenko added that 167,000 people still do not have water supply in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast alone as a result of the catastrophe. Utility workers have already delivered 11,000 tons of water for them.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said on June 6 that the dam in Kherson Oblast had been blown up by Russia's 205th Motorized Rifle Brigade.

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