Zelenskyy visits southern Ukraine, protest at UN office, deaths due to flooding: highlights of the day

Zelenskyy visit to southern Ukraine

On June 8, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a working visit to Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, which were affected by the Russian occupation forces' blowing the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.

In Kherson, the head of state held a meeting on the aftermath of the dam explosion and visited an evacuation point.

Zelenskyy gave instructions to calculate the damage and allocate funds to compensate residents. In addition, the President instructed to develop a program to compensate for losses or relocate businesses within Kherson Oblast.

In Mykolaiv Oblast, Zelenskyy inspected the condition of the main pumping station of the Inhulets River Canal Authority, which was flooded due to the detonation of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam.

Evacuation from Kherson Oblast

As of 6 p.m. on June 8, 2,334 people had already been evacuated from the flooded areas in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.

Most people have been evacuated from the Korabel neighborhood in Kherson - 1,765.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that 3,375 homes remain flooded. There are 62 watercraft working to rescue people. People are being rescued by both emergency workers and volunteers.

The victims are also being evacuated from Bashtanka district of Mykolaiv Oblast. According to Klymenko, about 800 people were evacuated from there.

During the evacuation, the occupiers shelled the places where people gathered. The head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported nine victims. Among the injured are two employees of the State Emergency Service, a policeman, a doctor and a volunteer from Germany.

Deaths due to flooding

One person died in Mykolaiv Oblast as a result of flooding caused by the Russian occupiers' blowing up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam.

Also, nine people were confirmed dead in the temporarily occupied Oleshky on the east bank of Kherson Oblast. In addition, on June 7, 120 people were hospitalized with hypothermia.

Situation at the frontline

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that fighting for Velyka Novosilka in the Novopavlivka axis is currently underway in the south of Ukraine. And on the Zaporizhzhya axis, Russian troops are on the active defense near Orikhiv.

In the east of Ukraine, on the Bakhmut axis, Ukrainian troops continue to be active, and fighting goes on. According to Malyar, in some places, the occupiers are trying to go on the offensive, but without success.

Protest near UN office

On June 8, more than 100 people protested in front of the United Nations office in Kyiv with posters reading "Get Russia out of the UN" and other slogans, as well as shouts of "Useless."

As the protesters explained, the reason was that for three days after Russian terrorists blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, the UN did not actually respond to the incident.

Eventually, in the afternoon, it became known that Ukraine and the UN had agreed that the organization would immediately form teams to be sent to the affected temporarily occupied territories of the east bank to provide humanitarian aid and evacuate people.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba assured the UN that Ukraine provides all security guarantees to the UN for humanitarian operations throughout the affected area.

Consequences of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant explosion

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam resulted in a massive fish kill. Law enforcement officials have launched an investigation into the ecocide.

Meanwhile, the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi said that several million tons of Ukrainian crops could be lost due to the flooding.

Strike on Uman district

In the evening of June 8, Russians attacked Uman district in Cherkasy Oblast with missiles. Seven people were injured, two of them in serious condition.

The occupiers hit an industrial facility and a car wash. A fire broke out at the car wash as a result of the hit.

Other news

• as of the evening of June 8, the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir reached 12.5 meters. This is lower than the so-called "dead point" of 12.7 meters, from which it is no longer possible to draw water for settlements and the Zaporizhzhya NPP;
• Ukrainian universities were included in the list of the most sustainable higher education institutions in the world according to the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings;
• Ukraine will receive assistance from NATO to overcome the consequences of Russia's blowing the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam;
• Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection of the Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Nikoriak, who was spotted by journalists in a restaurant in the capital during the curfew, resigned.