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War-torn Ukraine is reeling from the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which saw its reservoir burst causing chaos for miles around. The catastrophe on Tuesday forced thousands of residents of nearby towns and villages to evacuate their homes as the floodwater barrelled towards them and left some climbing onto rooftops or into trees to escape the raging torrents. Hundreds of thousands more have been left without access to clean drinking water in the region as a result of the eco-disaster on the Dnipro River, prompting relief workers to rush fresh supplies to the area as they struggle with the problems of mass resettlement. While the official tallies report that over 2,700 people have fled from flooded areas on both the Ukrainian and Russian-controlled sides of the river, a true picture of the disaster has yet to emerge given that more than 60,000 people live in the vicinity. Kyiv has blamed Russia for deliberately destroying the Soviet-era infrastructure, with Moscow, inevitably, protesting its innocence and contemptuously suggesting that Ukrainian saboteurs are responsible. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has called the incident “a war crime” and the “largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades”. Russia would certainly appear to have the most to gain from the disaster and President Zelensky did warn as long ago as last November that he believed enemy soldiers had mined the dam and were plotting its destruction. He reiterated that stance in a tweet on Tuesday: “It is physically impossible to blow it up somehow from the outside, by shelling. It was mined by the Russian occupiers. And they blew it up.” For now though, the priority remains coming to the aid of the stricken people of Kherson. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has warned of the threat to their wellbeing posed by hazardous chemicals and infectious diseases carried by the water as well as from landmines previously placed near the war’s frontline, which have been disturbed by the floods and are now likely to explode. The water in the reservoir feeds a wide area of southern Ukrainian farmland, including the annexed peninsula of Crimea, as well as providing all-important cooling water to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, lying nearby as indicated on the map below. A United Nations nuclear watchdog has attempted to reassure the public by saying that there is “no immediate risk” to the plant, even if it were to run out of water for its cooling systems. There is no such good news for the region’s farmers, however, with the flooding expected to spell instant disaster for this year’s harvest: crops are likely to be washed away, fields left waterlogged and livestock drowned in water that is at serious risk of being contaminated by machine oil, already seen gushing into the Dnipro. The depleted reservoir is also considered unlikely to be able to supply adequate irrigation to the surrounding fields for several years to come, a huge setback for Ukraine’s eventual hopes of economic recovery. All of which is also likely to have consequences for a global food market that has increasingly relied upon Ukraine for the supply of agricultural produce since the end of the Cold War. “There is no doubt that this will lead to large-scale environmental, economic and human consequences,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a chief adviser to President Zelenksy, told The Independent. “The instantaneous death of a large number of fish and animals, the waterlogging of drained lands, and the change in the climatic regime of the region, will later be reflected in the food security of the world. “A one-time reduction of water in a huge reservoir will lead to unpredictable ecological consequences.” Mr Podolyak warned that he expected the floodwaters to reach Mykolaiv, lying 56 miles from the dam and decried the drowning of the entire population of animals at the Kazkova Dibrova zoo on the Russian-held eastern bank of the river as particularly tragic. President Zelensky has already rebuked the officials installed by Moscow to run occupied territories along that bank for failing to respond adequately to the emergency. The Russian authorities he criticised have conceded that they have evacuated fewer than 1,300 people so far in an area where as many as 40,000 people were said to be affected. That compared unfavourably with the estimated 1,700 evacuated on the Ukrainian side to the west, where the population was reportedly around 42,000. According to the independent Russian news outlet Vyorstka, residents of the Moscow-run village of Oleshky, for one, remain stranded, the publisher quoting one woman as saying that her mother, who could not make it to the roof, was in the water clutching a ladder. A volunteer confirmed to Vyorstka that those still awaiting evacuation included children and disabled people. Civilians in Kherson itself were seen clutching personal belongings as they waded through knee-deep water in the streets and rode rubber rafts. Video on social media showed rescuers carrying others to safety and what looked like the triangular roof of a building floating downstream. Aerial footage showed flooded streets in the Russian-controlled city of Nova Kakhovska itself, where Mayor Vladimir Leontyev said seven people were missing, although they were believed to be alive. But perhaps most striking of all has been the aerial shots of the region captured by Maxar Technologies, which give the fullest picture of the damage done seen so far. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Ukraine-Russia war news – live: Exploding mines float through floodwater after Kherson dam attack Massive destruction after Ukraine dam collapse revealed in new satellite images Watch view of flooding in Kherson after destruction of Dnipro river dam The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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A Black deckhand caught in the middle of the Alabama riverfront brawl revealed he was berated with threats by white boaters after he asked them to move their vessel so a dinner cruise could dock. Damien Pickett detailed the frightening moments in a written deposition to Montgomery police that was obtained by NBC News. The Harriott II’s senior deckhand said he had tried to reason with the pontoon boat occupants when he asked them to move, but was instead met with an attack that was captured on video. Mr Pickett recalled being pummeled by the boaters who yelled, “I’m gonna kill you, motherf*****, beat your ass, motherf*****.” “I can’t tell you how long it lasted,” he wrote in the deposition. “I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life.” The Harriott II, which was carrying 227 passengers, had been trying to dock on Saturday evening in Montgomery but a pontoon boat was blocking their spot. After many calls over the PA system asking for the boat owners “five or six times” to move, Mr Pickett wrote, the men on the pontoon responded by “giving us the finger” for about three minutes. Mr Pickett said he and another dockhand then untied the pontoon boat and moved it “three steps to the right” and tied it back to a post so the Harriott II could dock. “By that time, two people ran up behind me,” Mr Pickett wrote. He added that one of the men, in a red hat, yelled to him, “Don’t touch that boat motherf***** or we will beat your ass.” “I told them, ‘No, you won’t,’” he continued, adding that the men kept threatening him, so he told them: “Do what you’ve got to do, I’m just doing my job.” Mr Pickett said the men appeared to be drunk and the boat’s owner, who was wearing a grey shirt and red shorts with a sun visor, “started getting loud … He got into my face. ‘This belongs to the f****** public.’ I told him this was a city dock.” The brawl broke out seconds later and Mr Pickett said that by that time, “a tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air. Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time. “Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me … I went to the ground. I think I hit one of them.” Finally, help had arrived, Mr Pickett said as he recounted a tall Black man and a security guard coming to his aid. “Two people were pulling them off me,” he said. But then before he knew it, “one of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting.” As the Harriott II finally docked, Mr Pickett’s said his nephew “ran off the boat and went after them. I was screaming for him to come back.” “The security guard was trying to get the lady in red to leave; she wouldn’t listen. People from off the boat and spectators were coming down the back end of the dock. The guy who started it all was choking my sister. I hit him, grabbed her and moved her … I turned around and MPD had a Taser in my face. I told him I was the one being attacked and could I finish doing my job.” Mr Pickett did just that as he helped passengers off the cruise boat and apologised to them “for the inconvenience. They all said I did nothing wrong,” he wrote. “Some of them were giving me cards with their names and numbers on it. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD.” He was eventually transported to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. Five people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the brawl. Reggie Gray, 42, turned himself in to Montgomery Police on Friday, three days after the police chief asked him to get in contact with authorities for further questioning. He was charged with disorderly conduct, police said. Mary Todd, 21, was charged with assault in the third degree. She is currently behind bars in the Municipal Jail, the police added. She joins three other men who were arrested following the wild riverfront fight. It’s unclear whether she and Allen Todd, a 23-year-old man who turned himself in on Wednesday, are related. Zachary Shipman, 25, also turned himself in on Wednesday night after police asked him and Mr Todd to turn themselves in no later than Tuesday. Richard Roberts, 48, was also held in custody in Selma as of Tuesday. Police have previously said that the three men who were arrested were members of the pontoon boat, which was blocking the Harriott II riverboat from docking in its designated space. It’s unclear if Ms Todd was also aboard the craft. The captain of the Harriott II said he believes this interaction was “racially motivated,” but the massive brawl that transpired afterwards was not. Capt Jim Kitrell also noted earlier this week that he has had “trouble” with the pontoon boat owners in the past, and had considered pressing charges against them years ago, yet was talked out of it. Read More Fourth suspect charged with assault in Alabama riverfront brawl as she turns herself in to police Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Alabama riverboat captain reveals past ‘trouble’ with pontoon boat owners after brawl