KYIV: Nine people have died in the flood caused by the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine's Kherson province. Several villages in Ukraine were flooded following the collapse of the Russian-controlled dam.

The Kakhovka dam collapsed last Tuesday. The 30-meter-high and 3.2 km long dam was built across the Dnipro River in 1956 during the period of the Soviet Union. 16,000 people were evacuated from the area after the accident.

600 square km area of ​​Kherson is still under water. It is reported that it will take another six to seven days for the water to start coming down. Ukraine claims that Russia used explosives to destroy the dam under its control, but Russia has denied this. Russia says that it was Ukraine's actions to stop the Russian advance that led to the disaster. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area, but the rising death toll in recent days is causing concern. Ukraine alleges that proper rescue operations cannot be carried out in the area due to the continued shelling by Russia.

At the same time, the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam near the Seporsia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, signaled a nuclear disaster. Water from the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River was used as cooling water for the reactors here. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informs that the nuclear power plant does not pose a security threat at present. The Seporsia nuclear power plant is currently controlled by Russia.