TOP HEADLINES

• Floodwaters in southern Ukraine were expected to peak on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of civilians fleeing in peril from the destruction of a vast dam that both sides called an act of wartime sabotage.

• The destruction of the Kakhovka dam will flood tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in southern Ukraine and could turn at least 500,000 hectares of land left without irrigation into "deserts", the agriculture ministry said.

• Up to 100 people in the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka are trapped and thousands of wild animals have been killed after the dam collapsed, Russian news agencies reported. READ MORE BELOW

• Elevated water levels in some parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region are forecast to continue for three to ten days, the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing emergency services.

• Russia will take extensive security measures at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine during a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi next week, the TASS news agency said on Wednesday.

• The Russian-controlled power plant is "sufficiently protected" from being re-captured by force, RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an adviser to the head of nuclear plant operator Rosenergoatom.

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he received "a serious, powerful" offer from leaders of countries ready to provide Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets and is awaiting final agreements with key allies.

IN DEPTH

Up to 100 people trapped amid Kakhovka dam flooding

Up to 100 people in the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka are trapped and thousands of wild animals have been killed after the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine collapsed, the town's Russian-installed mayor said, Russian news agencies reported. 

Over 30,000 cubic meters of water was pouring out of the reservoir every second and the town was at risk of contamination from the floods, the TASS news agency quoted the official, Vladimir Leontyev, as saying. 

He said rescue efforts were being undertaken to free people trapped by the floods. 

A graveyard, a burial site for cattle, and a special pit where dead animals were disinfected had all been covered with water, the RIA news agency cited an unnamed emergency services official as saying. 

Leontyev, the mayor, was cited by RIA as saying that "thousands of animals" at the Nizhnedniprovsky National Nature Park had also been killed, and that the scale of the disaster was "huge." 

Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the destruction of the dam, which has sent floodwaters across a war zone and forced thousands to flee. Some independent experts say the dam may have collapsed due to earlier damage and intense pressure on it.

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