live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. mass evacuations across ukraine, as a major dam is breached. russia and ukraine each blame the other. translation: such deliberate acts by the _ translation: such deliberate acts by the russian _ translation: such deliberate acts by the russian destruction of the dam is an environmental bomb of mass destruction. destroying fields of poppies in afghanistan, after the taliban ban their cultivation, but farmers ask how they're supposed to feed their families. i'm sumi somaskanda. welcome to our show. after the destruction of part of a crucial dam in southern ukraine, thousands of people have been forced to evacuate towns and villages to escape

rising flood waters. the dam sits between russian—held territory, to the south, and ukrainian territory, to the north. the dam is a significant resource, supplying water to a host of communities, as well as to europe's largest nuclear power station at zaporizhzhia. this dam is over the dnieper river, between areas controlled by russian and ukrainian armies in the south of ukraine this by russian and ukrainian armies in the south of ukraine. this video — tweeted by ukraine's president zelensky — shows the breached khakovka hydro—electric dam. according to the newspaper, the kyiv independent, the ukrainian government has announced it will allocate more than $40 million for constructing new water mains, after the dam breach. russia claims ukraine is behind the damage, while president zelensky blames russia. translation: the whole world will know about _ translation: the whole world will know about this _ translation: the whole world will know about this russian - will know about this russian war crime, the crime of genocide. such deliberate acts by the russian occupiers of the dam and other structures such as the power plant is an environmental bomb of mass destruction.

for the sake of its own security, the world should show now that russia cannot get away with such terror, now that russia cannot get away with such terror. the destruction of the dam comes as reports of the long—awaited ukrainian counteroffensive entering its initial stages. this video, from ukraine's military, released in the last few days, referred to the counteroffensive, and confirmed there would not be an announcement about the start. now, a us official has told the bbc�*s partner, us network, cbs, that it is accurate to say that the ukraine counteroffensive is in its opening phases, but that the main thrust has not yet begun. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has spent the day travelling to the affected area. a breach of a barrier designed to protect. this is the major kakhovka dam, failing to contain a reservoir resembling a sea. the waters of ukraine's dnipro river surge downstream, towards dozens of

towns and villages. this is effectively front line which separates territory ukraine controls and russia occupies. close to the dnipro's mouth the city of kherson. officials are worried the flooding could become catastrophic. when our team arrived this afternoon, it didn't take long to find out what life is like. "it's dangerous," says katalina. then... explosion. russia may have retreated here last year, but they're not far away. it takes a lot in these parts to make people leave. back upstream, you can't really see what's left of the dam and hydroelectric plant. so, who did this? russia controls this area, but blames ukraine. kyiv is in no doubt. translation: the kakhovka hydroelectric power station. l

it was an absolutely deliberate, prepared explosion. they knew exactly what they were doing. translation: tonight, the kyiv regime emitted another terrorist crime. the kakhovka hydroelectric dam was blown up, which led to the flooding of significant territories. so what is the significance of the nova kakhovka dam? it supplies water to huge swathes of agricultural land, including in crimea, and the reservoir behind it provides water to cool the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, further up river. both areas are under russian control. the reservoir is huge, the dnipro river is especially wide here — 150 miles long, and up to 14 miles across. this is what the dam looks like, undamaged. our colleagues at bbc verify say this image of a smaller bridge was taken days ago — but since early this morning, this is what the dam has turned into. thousands of people are at risk from flooding. whole villages are underwater.

here, the landscape is transformed. whoever destroyed the dam knew this would happen, and decided it was worth it. one ukrainian mp watched as the river burst its banks. "you can see how the water is coming up every second," he says. "it's starting to rise." ukraine has been ravaged by becoming a giant battlefield. a country forever remoulded, and now a region partially submerged. james waterhouse, bbc news, kherson. as we said, russia blames ukrainian saboteurs for the explosion. our russia editor steve rosenberg has this on those claims. well, today, we heard from the russian defence minister, who came out and claimed that the

ukrainian counteroffensive that actually started three days ago, and he made a bold claim, saying that russia had thwarted the counteroffensive, and came up the counteroffensive, and came up with all kinds of figures, claiming that more than 3000 ukrainian soldiers had been killed, he said that 71 russian soldiers had been killed over the last three days. we cannot confirm those figures and we have to be very careful about figures. we are not sure how accurate those are. but russian officials claimed that the ukrainian counteroffensive has got bogged down, but they provided no evidence for that, so i think we should be cautious about those claims. as both sides continue to point fingers at each other, we spoke with hanna shelest, the editor in chief of ukraine analytica, on who is behind the breach, and if ukraine's counteroffensive is really under way. thank you very much forjoining us. i want to start with the dam explosion. some military

analysts, including michael kofman, the director of russian studies, who has been speaking to the new york times as it is too early to assign blame because this disaster benefits nobody. do you agree? unfortunately i disagree. you can have _ unfortunately i disagree. you can have your opinion and you cannot— can have your opinion and you cannot have your facts, and the facts _ cannot have your facts, and the facts are — cannot have your facts, and the facts are that the dam was heavily— facts are that the dam was heavily mined by russian forces that have — heavily mined by russian forces that have effectively controlled it since april last year. — controlled it since april last year, and they proudly demonstrated it. after the liberation of kherson city, juniper— liberation of kherson city, juniper was expected to be the next. — juniper was expected to be the next. and _ juniper was expected to be the next, and they demonstrated the second _ next, and they demonstrated the second stage of heavily mining the second stage of heavily mining _ the second stage of heavily mining this dam. so they have been _ mining this dam. so they have been preparing for this, and on a lot— been preparing for this, and on a lot of— been preparing for this, and on a lot of social networks that we are _ a lot of social networks that we are monitoring, they've been discussing — we are monitoring, they've been discussing the russian military under— discussing the russian military under which conditions when the counteroffensive would start by ukraine, — counteroffensive would start by ukraine, they need to blow up. the question is that definitely

they— the question is that definitely they were not ready to do such a big _ they were not ready to do such a big blow— they were not ready to do such a big blow up in such consequences. probably what they— consequences. probably what they expected that it will be much — they expected that it will be much smaller, and the only thing — much smaller, and the only thing they will do, theyjust flood — thing they will do, theyjust flood the small islands that are nearby in the middle of the river, _ are nearby in the middle of the river, where the ukrainian forces _ river, where the ukrainian forces already found their positions within the last month _ positions within the last month. we see from the interception, from the communication, from our partisans— communication, from our partisans of the occupied territories that the primary goal— territories that the primary goal was not to allow ukrainian forces — goal was not to allow ukrainian forces to— goal was not to allow ukrainian forces to cross the dear dnipro river — forces to cross the dear dnipro river so— forces to cross the dear dnipro river. so russia definitely benefits in this. will let's say— benefits in this. will let's say they expected to benefit in this way — say they expected to benefit in this way. so say they expected to benefit in this wa . ., say they expected to benefit in this wa _ ., “ say they expected to benefit in this wa . ., ,, , this way. so do you think this will then limit _ this way. so do you think this will then limit key _ this way. so do you think this will then limit key of's - will then limit key of's ability to carry out this counteroffensive, particularly in the south and the east? for the east that _ in the south and the east? pr?" the east that means nothing because that definitely was not the way to liberate the donetsk region for example, and even for the zaporizhzhia region, if you look at the map, the main

occupied town, it is much more to the north, so the counteroffensive is still absolutely possible. and what we heard today from one of the chief commandos, it is not changing the plans of the ukrainian armed forces. definitely that will have significant influence to the south of kherson region, and here it is notjust for the military plans. the question is now that the primary goal is to do something with this disaster. we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people that are currently under the negative consequences of this blow—up. 50 negative consequences of this blow-u, ., , negative consequences of this blow-u. ., , ., blow-up. so does that specifically _ blow-up. so does that specifically mean - blow-up. so does that specifically mean that | blow-up. so does that i specifically mean that in blow-up. so does that - specifically mean that in this region around kherson, the russian occupied areas, that it will be difficult for ukrainian forces to liberate these areas? no, because the russian forces managed to flood their own positions as well. and if you look to the map, the so—called left bank, even more impacted by this flood, because it is

lower than the rate banks, and what we are seeing now that it is the so—called first line of the defence is already totally flooded. so the russian forces are urgently evacuating from there. by the way, two or three days before this tragedy, in the villages around the left bank of the russian soldiers have been stealing the boats of the local population, so they've been preparing for something. the question is that i put into the videos we already have, it seems like not all of them were notified during the night, so during the day, there are a lot of boats just around the river full of russian soldiers, or russian soldier sitting in the trees and waiting for evacuation. so that definitely also will make the russian forces to withdraw further from the left bank, and let's see where they will go, either to crimea or further to the east of the kherson region. great to have you on our show. thanks forjoining us.— thanks for “oining us. thank

ou. i spoke with alexander rodnyansky , an advisor to president volodymyr zelensky. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news. i want to start with this dam explosion. president zelenskyy has about 80 towns and villages could be affected. what is the impact on the country �*s energy infrastructure? yeah that's right. well, the impact is devastating, it is still to be seen what will happen exactly but it is notjust the energy infrastructure.— but it is notjust the energy infrastructure. , 5 ~ :: infrastructure. keep in mind 80 towns and _ infrastructure. keep in mind 80 towns and villages _ infrastructure. keep in mind 80 towns and villages are - infrastructure. keep in mind 80 towns and villages are flooded, j towns and villages are flooded, maybe more. both sides of the river, actually the occupied river, actually the occupied river as well as our side, where ukraine has its forces. there is catastrophe both for the people living there that are getting evacuated hopefully, as well as the animals that are living there and oversleep populating these areas, as well as for the poor and vulnerable. so it is a general disaster, notjust for the electricity grid, although as you set correctly there is a hydroelectric power plant that is affected and that will

obviously have some negative consequences. it obviously have some negative consequences— consequences. it is also exnected _ consequences. it is also expected to _ consequences. it is also expected to have - consequences. it is also expected to have an - consequences. it is also - expected to have an impact of some sort on the fighting. what impact do you think you will have on ukraine's efforts to carry out its counteroffensive and also to push back against russian occupied areas? we have been prepared — russian occupied areas? we have been prepared for— russian occupied areas? we have been prepared for the _ russian occupied areas? we have been prepared for the sort - russian occupied areas? we have been prepared for the sort of- been prepared for the sort of eventualities from the very beginning. we knew that the russians could be planning or were planning an explosion around the dam, so it eventually happen unfortunately, so i wouldn't say that this came as a total surprise. however, it is officially not helpful to us, it is not helpful for ukraine, for ukrainians living there, it is probably not helpful for the military but that is for them to comment on. i suspect it is not going to have much of an effect on the counteroffensive. as soon as it will set in, as soon as it will become visible, soon as it will become visible, so our troops have made preparations and i'm sure they will be up to deal with the repercussions of this flooding. we are seeing he ever attacked almost every night with drone attacks, missile attacks. ukrainian air defences are

working to prevent those attacks but what is the toll on the city and how the government is able to function on a day—to—day basis? so is able to function on a day-to-day basis? so here i would distinguish _ day-to-day basis? so here i would distinguish between l day-to-day basis? so here i i would distinguish between two things, what the actual toll is what the intention was on the part of the russians. their intention was clearly to disrupt any type of civilised peaceful life that we have here, and kyiv had become more peaceful, if you want to come over the recent months. now they failed, because almost 100% of the missiles and drones that they sent were actually shot down by our air defences, that are getting better, so that are getting better, so thatis that are getting better, so that is testimony to their effectiveness now, and we hope that all of ukraine will be equally well protected, and it's getting there, it's getting there. but of course they are terrorising us, there is constant silence, constant alerts, it is happening during the night so it is disrupting the night so it is disrupting the sleep patterns of our people here and that is affecting productivity, on the psychological state, so i wouldn't say on the one however they have succeeded in anything, if at all, they have failed in in disrupting our

electricity, infrastructure and somehow doing us a disfavour come in terms of the lives we are leading. but at the same time it is happening and we are busily noticing it, so hopefully they will be running out of ammunition, as they have been, sooner rather than later. as you said, we are seeing destruction in cities beyond kyiv, in cities like dnipro as well where we have seen air strikes. we spoke yesterday to timothy miller vanhoof, and he said we should start to focus on the rebuilding of ukraine now. he said the following. i now. he said the following. i think we need to help ukraine maintain _ think we need to help ukraine maintain its economy and services _ maintain its economy and services during the war, and then— services during the war, and then after— services during the war, and then after the war rebuild it as a — then after the war rebuild it as a prosperous economy. do you a . ree as a prosperous economy. do you agree that — as a prosperous economy. do you agree that rebuilding _ as a prosperous economy. do you agree that rebuilding ukraine - agree that rebuilding ukraine needs to start now, in order to ensure a prosperous economy in the future? of course, we want that to happen and it needs to start now as far as possible. companies are not willing to take the risk right now to invest into ukraine and rebuild

and start large capital investment on infrastructure project we desperately need and will need after the war. for that you really need unending to the fighting and a certainty that whatever you are investing and is not going to disappear rather soon. that is the big issue but we can and should start now and we have started now because again, many cities were rebuilt, for example to the north of kyiv, that has a already been rebuilding. places that were destroyed last year and how they live now. we need to rebuild the infrastructure and we have begun with a lot of infrastructure project and recovery projects are ready and the other thing is make preparations for larger recoveries. institutions that will need to be there in order to do the recovery and that is happening slowly and we can consolidate our international partners. all of that is

essentially starting the process and that can already happen now. process and that can already happen nova— process and that can already happen now. great to have you on the show. _ happen now. great to have you on the show. thank— happen now. great to have you on the show. thank you. - as we heard, there are safety implications at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant upstream, the facility relies on water from the dam to cool its reactors. here's the head of the un nuclear watchdog. 0ur our current assessment is that there is no immediate risk to there is no immediate risk to the safety of the plant. 0ur science correspondent pallab ghosh explains the risks to the plant. what are the risks? the first is nuclear reactors. they are roller shutdown and will below their normal operating temperatures. experts say they do not really need any additional water. the second is the cooling pond topped up by the cooling pond topped up by the reservoir. it supplies the

area keeps spent nuclear rods from overheating.— from overheating. because of fuel has been _ from overheating. because of fuel has been in _ from overheating. because of fuel has been in there - from overheating. because of fuel has been in there for - from overheating. because of fuel has been in there for a i fuel has been in there for a long time, it is getting quite cold and not generating much heat as they would take months to have any problem to replenish the water. when additional _ replenish the water. when additional water _ replenish the water. when additional water is - replenish the water. when | additional water is needed, replenish the water. when - additional water is needed, the un nuclear safety body says the cooling pond has enough water to meet needs for several months. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. all boat operations from bournemouth pier have been suspended as a precaution, following the deaths of a 12—year—old girl and a 17—year—old boy last week. sunnah khan and joe abbess, died in hospital after an incident last week. an inquest heard a suggestion that a riptide led to the pair drowning. the cbi, which represents thousands of british businesses, won the backing of its members for a series of proposed reforms after a crisis that threatened its future. 93% of those who voted supported the plans. it follows a series

of allegations of serious sexual misconduct which prompted many businesses to end memberships. the government hasn't said if or when it'll re—engage with the cbi. prince harry faced nearly five hours of questioning at the high court from lawyers representing mirror group newspapers. he's accused the publisher of "utterly vile" behaviour, saying journalists used unlawful tactics, including phone hacking to gather stories about him. he becomes the first senior royal to give evidence in a legal case since the 1890's. you're live with bbc news. now to the bbc�*s new podcast looking at what led to the covid—19 pandemic. in the second episode of fever: the hunt for covid's 0rigin, a team of top scientists ask where covid came from, but it is unclear whether or not they can trust data from china. to talk about the new episode, we go live to the bbc�*s john sudworth in new york.

what ground do you cover in the second episode? this what ground do you cover in the second episode?— second episode? this is an eiuht second episode? this is an eight part _ second episode? this is an eight part series, - second episode? this is an eight part series, a - second episode? this is an eight part series, a real. second episode? this is an i eight part series, a real deep dive into what on the surface, as you say, is a pretty simple question, where did covid come from but of course it is far more than that. it has become over the years, since the start of the pandemic, arguably one of the pandemic, arguably one of the pandemic, arguably one of the most controversial and contentious scientific question of our age, certainly one of the most politicised. what we tried to do in this podcast is layout for the audience what do we know? what don't we know? what are the sort of made scientific arguments at play? an end of this second episode what we really do is we look at the beginnings of the arguments from those scientists at the beginning of the pandemic who began to say very early on that the virus itself, the genetic

structure of the virus suggests it came from nature. if you remember, there were strong claims made early by some scientists that it was not proved, just short of proof that saying it came from nature. those conclusions were called into question and the debate is far more open today but that is what we do in the second episode and for audiences, it is this real deep dive into some of that size. the big question overarching all of this is the question of chinese government policy over notjust chinese government policy over not just the chinese government policy over notjust the beginning of the pandemic but the question of the origin and that question of trust, can we trust the data that we get from authoritarian states? ~ ., ., ,, ., , ., states? what do we know up to this oint states? what do we know up to this point about _ states? what do we know up to this point about the _ states? what do we know up to this point about the origins - states? what do we know up to this point about the origins of l this point about the origins of covid? ., ., ., ., covid? how long do i have? i mean, covid? how long do i have? i mean. what _ covid? how long do i have? i mean, what we _ covid? how long do i have? i

mean, what we know- covid? how long do i have? i mean, what we know for - covid? how long do i have? i- mean, what we know for absolute certain is that covid probably came from a bad. there are two key theories that may be a came through the wildlife trade in a wuhan market and then the far more controversial question of whether it came from laboratories in wuhan that were studying the risks of viruses spreading. it is looking at both of those arguments, weighing up the evidence, looking at that scientific debate so audiences can follow it for themselves and hopefully at some point decide whether they believe the balance of probability live.— they believe the balance of probability live. thank you so much. probability live. thank you so much- catch _ probability live. thank you so much. catch up _ probability live. thank you so much. catch up on _ probability live. thank you so much. catch up on episode i probability live. thank you so i much. catch up on episode two. you can listen to this story onjohn's new podcast fever: the hunt for covid's 0rigins. it has new episodes weekly on bbc radio four and bbc sounds. over 80% of the world's opium used to be produced in afghanistan. but last year, the taliban banned opium poppy cultivation. the bbc has found evidence

the taliban government has had major success cracking down on it, with satellite images that experts say show opium farming down by as much as four—fifths in a year. but in a country reeling from an economic crisis, farmers say this is another blow. 0ur correspondent yogita limaye has this report from afghanistan. men who were once fighting for this land now control it. and they're enforcing the diktat of their leader. we've been given rare access to the taliban's campaign to eradicate poppy in nangarhar province. we have to get to more remote areas near the border with pakistan to find standing crop. so the field to the right, that's already been destroyed. and we're walking to another one, which they are in the process of destroying right now. this field belongs

to ali mohammed mir. i asked him why he defied the ban. translation: if you don't have enough food in your house - and your children are going hungry, what else will you do? if we grew wheat instead, we won't earn enough to survive. the taliban go armed and in large numbers. there have been instances of clashes with angry locals. afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium. the taliban are accused of profiting from it when they were fighting against foreign forces and the former afghan regime — a claim they deny. but now, from what we've seen and from satellite images, there's evidence of an unprecedented reduction. this is helmand province. it used to be afghanistan's opium heartland. wheat now stands

where poppy was grown. this man tells us that in this taliban stronghold area, farmers have all but complied with the order. translation: we are very upset. we can't meet our families' needs. i've had to take a loan. hunger is at its peak and we haven't got any help from the government. we met the main spokesman of the taliban government, who told us they banned opium because it's harmful and goes against their religious beliefs. farmers say they're not getting any support from your government. how do you plan to help them? translation: opium causes a lot of harm. | we call on international organisations to help. but then, at the same time, you're making the operations and the funding of aid agencies in this country extremely difficult by the ban on afghan women working for them. you can't have it both ways.

translation: they shouldn't link humanitarian issues with politics. the whole world is affected by opium addiction. for now, the taliban appear to have accomplished what no one else could. but there are questions about how long they can sustain it. yogita limaye, bbc news, kandahar. and you can see more of her reporting from afghanistan on our website bbc.com. and finally, an autocorrect feature on apple devices is changing. the modification comes so people can type one of the most common swear words freely, without it being automatically changed. previously, when a certain swear word was typed, the keyboards factory settings on the device change the word automatically to "ducking". software boss craig federighi summed it all up: "in those moments where you just want to type "a ducking word, "well, the keyboard will learn it too."

thank you for watching bbc news. hello, there. you've probably noticed the weather not really changing very much over recent times, and that's because high pressure's been firmly dominating. and with high pressure around, its not rained very much anywhere. but in warwickshire, in church lawford, you'd have to go back to the 11th of may — that was the last time it rained — so that's nearly four weeks of dry weather. some of the warmest weather has been across in northern ireland, county tyrone. it's been very warm in castlederg for the last nine days, but five of these recent days have seen temperatures reach 2a celsius — that's six above average. now, it's the west that had the highest temperatures again on tuesday, but england, stuck underneath this area of cloud, had much lower temperatures in many areas — for example, in leek, in staffordshire, 18 celsius on monday, 12 celsius on tuesday. we also had some cloud dropping the temperatures in parts of west scotland as well. now, over the next few hours, we're seeing that cloud again

thicken up across parts of england, wales, northern and eastern scotland. you might find a few spots of drizzle, although predominantly, it will be a dry start to the day on wednesday. the best of the early—morning sunshine, like recent times, will be across these western areas of the country. could be a few mist patches, clearing and lifting, and then the sunshine comes out. i think there is a better chance of seeing this cloud break up across the midlands, east wales, so you probably will see some sunshine. but there could be some areas of eastern england again that keep the cloud all day. where that happens, temperatures into the teens — but otherwise, i think more of us will see temperatures into the low 20s. and with those sunny conditions out west, we'll see some very high levels of pollen building in across parts of england and wales, so it could be quite a sneezy day for hay—fever sufferers allergic to grass pollen. now, for thursday, again, there could be a bit of cloud around across eastern areas — probably east scotland, northeast england, the favoured spots for holding on to that. but otherwise, plenty of sunshine around, and those temperatures again reaching the mid—20s in the very warmest areas. we then do start to see a change, courtesy of this storm system — storm oscar, that's been

bringing some torrential rain to madeira. what that'll do, it moves to the southwest of the uk, and it shoves a load of humid air across the country. and so, we'll see a change in the weather conditions as we head into the weekend. as it turns more humid, we'll start to see some showers and thunderstorms break out. and, although the rain from these will be hit—and—miss in nature, some could see the first significant rain for four weeks.