00:00 [Crying]
00:07 [Crying]
00:14 [Music]
00:23 Breaking news in the war in Ukraine.
00:25 An explosion at a dam is flooding areas of southern Ukraine.
00:28 The apparent purposeful destruction of a major dam.
00:31 The water levels could rise by as much as 12 meters.
00:34 The Russian occupiers have committed the biggest crime of ecocide.
00:39 Whoever committed this act at the dam committed a war crime.
00:43 The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realized in the coming days.
00:49 [Music]
00:55 In June, the Russian occupied Khovka Dam exploded,
00:59 unleashing the waters of one of Europe's largest reservoirs over hundreds of villages, towns and cities.
01:07 The explosion, which Kiev blames on Moscow,
01:10 has sparked the worst ecological disaster on the continent in recent history.
01:15 It will have global repercussions.
01:18 [Music]
01:23 Now the flood waters have lowered, civilians are returning to their homes for the first time.
01:29 The scale of the damage and what needs to be done is only just being revealed.
01:34 [Music]
01:38 [Speaking in Russian]
02:06 Families in this part of Kherson city now entirely rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
02:12 At one drop-off point we met several residents who took us around their destroyed homes.
02:18 Some of the water has receded, which has allowed partial access,
02:21 but right now they're desperately trying to find ways to pump the rest of the water out
02:26 so they can potentially come back to live here.
02:28 This is Katerina in her house.
02:30 She's going to show us.
02:32 [Speaking in Russian]
02:39 Katerina repeatedly warns us to be careful, as parts of her kitchen floor have already caved in.
02:45 [Speaking in Russian]
03:06 Pretty much all that's left are water-sogged walls, which are structurally unsound,
03:11 and the remains of belongings that are completely destroyed.
03:15 Everyone here has lived under months of occupation.
03:18 They have to contend with daily shelling.
03:20 All they had left were their homes and their belongings, and even that's been taken away from them.
03:26 Along the same street we meet 84-year-old Antonina,
03:32 who's trying to clear the mud and water from her home with her bare hands.
03:38 She's clearly in shock, and wearing the same nightie she was dressed in that morning she was evacuated,
03:44 it's the only belonging she has left.
03:47 [Speaking in Russian]
04:00 [Crying]
04:02 It's not just Kherson that's been impacted.
04:11 The devastation from the floods and Russia's ongoing shelling continues for hundreds of kilometres.
04:18 Just north of Mikhailov, Olga, who lives alone, says she was given no warning.
04:26 [Speaking in Russian]
04:38 Olga only escaped death by swimming to safety with her kittens.
04:52 Water levels here are still so high, volunteers deliver vital supplies by boat.
04:57 One of the biggest demands is clean water.
05:04 Most of the supply has been cut off or contaminated by sewage.
05:08 The potential spread of deadly disease is adding to a long list of woes,
05:14 and so Ukraine's Ministry of Health is closely monitoring the water.
05:19 [Speaking in Russian]
05:24 When the dam first exploded, the teams here in Zafaricha were testing the water four times a day.
05:30 They've now reduced that to once a day, but they're taking 20 samples,
05:34 and here they can test everything from cholera to radiation.
05:38 So far the results are manageable, but the regional head said it will take at least a decade,
05:44 and for the war to end, to repair the destroyed dam and water supply.
05:49 [Speaking in Russian]
06:05 Another problem is drought, upstream of the dam.
06:11 Access to water I think is our major issue right now.
06:15 The Kakovka reservoir was the source of drinking water for more than 700,000 people in southern Ukraine,
06:22 and this access to water for these 700,000 people is in danger.
06:27 One of the worst hit areas is Nikopol, a city which once backed onto and relied entirely on the Kakovka reservoir.
06:37 Since the reservoir has dried up, there is no water at all for the 50,000 residents who still live here.
06:43 The fire department told us they've got 10 crews working around the clock to bring water to the citizens of Nikopol.
06:50 They've just filled up here at this kindergarten in the centre of the city.
06:54 So people are queuing up, sometimes for hours, to get enough water to last them for a few days.
07:00 It's a huge risk to do this though.
07:03 Families tell us the Russians hit civilians gathering in these water lines.
07:08 [Speaking in Russian]
07:20 The water shortages are only compounding a pre-existing humanitarian crisis here in Nikopol.
07:26 Just across this dry Kakovka reservoir bed are Russian positions.
07:30 They occupy the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
07:33 Every day the city is being shelled from forces that are occupying that area.
07:38 Ukraine says since Russia has proved it's already willing to use scorched earth tactics,
07:45 including blowing up the Kakovka dam,
07:47 they would have no qualms in damaging the Russian-held nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe.
07:54 [Speaking in Russian]
07:59 President Zelensky has repeatedly said that Ukraine has fresh intelligence.
08:04 There is an immediate plan to do so.
08:07 Russia has vehemently denied both accusations.
08:11 In the interim, Ukrainian emergency services are preparing.
08:15 They are also testing the air for radiation every day.
08:20 There are other, more immediate consequences of the attack on the dam for the world.
08:28 Food.
08:30 This was fully submerged underwater and now it's just dried up shells.
08:36 For as far as the eye can see.
08:38 Before the invasion, Ukraine was nicknamed the breadbasket of the world.
08:42 It was already struggling to export grains and oils because of the conflict.
08:47 Now local farmers say their fields are turning to salty dust because of the loss of the reservoir.
08:54 [Speaking in Russian]
09:12 Normally, the World Food Program would buy food from Ukraine and export and send it to countries in Africa,
09:19 in the Middle East that need food support.
09:22 They still manage to buy food here from Ukraine and send it to other countries.
09:26 But we also have to provide food assistance here.
09:29 Almost 8 million people here last year, we need to provide them with food.
09:33 So basically a pre-existing global food problem could be made worse by this flooding,
09:38 whilst we also have food security issues within Ukraine as well.
09:41 There is no doubt that if there is the impact that we think that is going to be here on the agriculture,
09:47 it will add to a problem that is already complicated around the world and here in Ukraine.
09:52 [Speaking in Russian]
10:03 With no immediate answers, Ukrainians like Olha have to fend for themselves.
10:09 [Speaking in Russian]
10:25 But the future is bleak.
10:28 [Music]
10:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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