6, June, 2023
Evacuate of people is progress downstream of a major dam which has been blown up by Russian in Ukraine.
President Zelensky said 80 towns and villages were at risk of flooding after the destruction of the dam at Nova Kakhovka, which he blamed on Russia.
Water is surging down the Dnipro river and is said to pose a catastrophic flooding risk to the city of Kherson.
Russia has denied destroying the dam - which it controls - instead blaming Ukrainian shelling.
Neither Ukraine or Russia's claim has been verified by the BBC.
The Kakhovka dam is crucial in the region. It contains a reservoir, which provides water to farmers and residents, as well as to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It is also is a vital channel carrying water south to Russian-occupied Crimea.
Video footage shows a torrent of floodwater gushing through a breach in the dam. Several towns are already flooded, while people in areas further downstream are now fleeing by bus and train.
Some 16,000 people are in a "critical zone", according to the head of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin.
Mr Prokudin said water levels in the Dnipro river will be "critical" within five hours and accused Russia of committing "yet another act of terror".
In a Telegram post, he said the evacuation of residents living in the threatened areas on the Ukraine-controlled western bank of the Dnipro river were under way, and he appealed to residents on the opposite bank - currently under Russian control - to immediately leave their homes.
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Mr Prokudin said residents were being taken by bus to Kherson, from where they will be moved to different cities across the country.
People in low-lying parts of the city of Kherson - around 50 miles downstream - have also been told to evacuate as quickly as possible.
One local resident Andrei, who lives close to the dam, said he believed Russia wanted to "drown" his city.
In Kherson, a woman called Lyudmyla - who was loading her belongings including a washing machine onto a trailer that was attached to an old car - said: "We're afraid of flooding. We're taking our things a little higher up."
She called for Russian forces to be "kicked out of here... they're shooting at us. They're flooding us or doing something else".
Another resident of the city, Sergiy, said he feared "everything is going to die here". "All the living creatures, and people will be flooded out," he said, gesturing at nearby houses and gardens.
There are concerns about the impact on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which uses water from a reservoir behind the dam for cooling.
The situation there is said to be under control and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said it is monitoring the situation closely.
The UN agency said it saw "no immediate nuclear safety risk" at Europe's biggest atomic plant.