Ukrainian president visits region flooded by breached dam as five confirmed dead

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in the flood-hit region of Kherson to evaluate the response to damage caused by a dam breach.

The Ukrainian leader said he is helping to assess efforts to evacuate civilians, provide them with drinking water and other support and try to stanch vast environmental damage.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, a Russian-occupied town three miles from the collapsed Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant, reported on Russian state TV that five of seven residents declared missing after the dam breach are dead.

The two others have been found and efforts were being made to evacuate them, Vladimir Leontyev added.

At least 4,000 people have been evacuated from both the Russian and Ukrainian-controlled sides of the Dnieper river, which has become part of the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the more than 15-month-old war, officials said.

The true scale of the disaster is yet to emerge in an area that was home to more than 60,000 people.