Russian troops have attacked a boat with evacuees from the flooded areas of the Russian-occupied east back of the Dnipro River, injuring six people, President Volodymyr Zelensky's Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak reported on June 11.
Yermak said Russian forces "opened fire at the backs" of evacuees.
All the injured were hospitalized when the boat got to the Ukrainian-controlled west bank in Kherson, the regional capital.
The medics are trying to save the lives of the injured, Yermak said.
On June 11, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that 2,718 civilians had been evacuated from the flooded areas. He also reported five deaths due to flooding in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, and 35 missing individuals, including seven children.
Casualty figures remain unknown on the east bank under Russian occupation.
Ukraine says that Russian forces intentionally destroyed the Kakhovka hydropower plant, causing the massive flooding of dozens of settlements on the both banks of the Dnipro River. An alleged call between Russian soldiers intercepted by Ukraine’s intelligence services on June 9 supposedly confirms Moscow's complicity.
The U.S. government has so far refused to say conclusively who is responsible for the Kakhovka disaster but asserted that Russia ultimately bears blame as it was in control of the dam.
Francis Farrell
(Updated: )
