was destroyed by an explosion. a huge reservoir of water on the dnipro river was unleashed downstream, with devastating consequences. we understand 16,000 residents on the banks of ukraine—controlled areas are in immediate, critical danger. shouts ukraine and nato accused russia of committing the act. the un warned of grave and far—reaching consequences, which are being felt across ukraine and beyond. this is the story of what happened after kakhovka.

as a ukrainian journalist, i've been following russia's full—scale invasion from day one. when moscow took the area around the southern city of nova kakhovka, i realised it could become a flash point. the city is close to a key reservoir and europe's largest nuclear power station. live from london, this is bbc news. dozens of towns and villages are flooded in ukraine after a major dam is breached. let's go live now to kyiv, speak to bbc ukrainian�*s viktoriia zhuhan, who's there. for today, we understand from ukrainian authorities

that about 16,000 residents on the banks of ukraine—controlled areas are in immediate critical danger. our team has been investigating for many months... water supplies are of key importance in the hot and dry south of ukraine, and russia previously targeted the waterways here, along with other civilian infrastructure. ..man—made flood into a weapon. yet this breach caused much bigger disruption. i knew that soon this story would fade from the headlines. i wanted to keep following it to understand how this critical moment will affect ukraine and the rest of the world.

we are heading to the southern region of ukraine. we want to see how the locals are coping weeks after the kakhovka dam disaster. well, you need to remember that people there have already been through a lot, even before the massive flood. and as a journalist, i want to understand how wide scale and prolonged such consequences could be, but as a human, i'm honestly afraid what exactly i would see and how bad things really are. we set off from the ukrainian capital, kyiv, and our first stop was the village of afanasiivka in the southern mykolaiv region of ukraine. it is 70km from the kakhovka dam.

for svitlana and her husband, their life's work is in the small dairy farm.

these satellite images reveal what happened to svitlana's village. 0njune 9, three days after the dam breach, flooding reaches maximum level, then starts to subside, but the damage is done.

the kakhovka dam is part of the kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the south of ukraine. the facility has been under russian occupation since the full—scale invasion. the plant was built in the 1950s during the soviet era. the huge reservoir, known to locals as the kakhovka sea, provided drinking water, and as the author of a un report on the dam, monika tothova explained, water for crops. kakhovka dam was part of the dnipro cascade of hydroelectric plants and it was an important source of waterfor arid regions in the southern part

of ukraine. so, it provided drinking water for the population, it provided a source of irrigation water for the summer, and allowed these steppes, which were previously dry, to be used for agricultural production. ukraine blamed russia for the disaster, saying it was to sabotage the ukrainian offensive. russia denied responsibility and claimed it was ukraine's fault.

three days after the incident, new evidence emerged. seismic readings that were detected around 400 miles away in romania indicate that this was a very, very large explosion. but it is clear that that explosion, which they identify within a less than 20—mile radius of the dam at nova kakhovka, was a very, very large explosion. we're probably talking about tons of explosives. a us newspaper, the new york times, conducted its own investigation, citing engineers and other experts who believe the explosion happened inside the dam and the russian military were behind it. an international team of lawyers assisting ukraine in investigating the incident also believed there was a high probability that the dam was destroyed by explosives placed inside it.

the war had taken its toll on this family even before the flood.

svitlana and her husband explained that their local wells were contaminated after the massive exodus of water. for drinking water, they now rely on aid workers. afanasiivka, like many other villages and towns in ukraine—controlled flooded areas, received help, but locals are hoping for more than food.

we said goodbye to svitlana and travelled to the village of pavlo—marianivka, also in the mykolaiv region. last year, it was on the russian—ukrainian front line, but has since been liberated. before the war, vadym successfully grew wheat, barley and sunflowers — ukraine's main exports.

the extent of the damage in vadym's home and his farm was recorded in this video, published on social media

at the time of the disaster. the impact of the flooding on vadym's fields can be clearly seen in these satellite images. what once were green fields were largely flooded byjune 9, and then, as the water subsided, it left behind badly damaged soil. vadym and his wife have farmed for most of their lives and have raised a large family. there have been highs and lows, but this feels very different.

after talking to vadym, i began to believe the local people here can recover from the flood damage. but closer to the epicentre, the situation is much worse. some of the eastern bank of the dnipro river is under russian occupation. you can see it in red on this map. it's lower than the western bank and it suffered more flooding when the dam was breached in earlyjune.

this is the town of 0leshky before and after the breach. the russian—installed mayor of nova kakhovka was quoted as saying the news of the dam breach was nonsense. "the town is quiet and calm," he said. later, the russian—installed chief of the occupied part of kherson region said that nearly 6,000 people were evacuated to higher ground and would get help with relocation. we were not able to see the flood damage in the russian—occupied territories immediately after the dam breach and we cannot go there now, but we have been in touch with locals there. many of them told us, in reality, there was little or no help from the russian authorities. one person sent us this video. it was recorded soon after the dam breach. we have to hide these people's identities for their safety.

social media was key in organising the rescue effort. this is an example from a chat where residents in one flooded street were hoping for rescue. ukrainian officials said that even weeks after the disaster, some of the areas occupied by russia remained flooded and locals struggled to cope.

at least 57 people are confirmed to have died. the local russian—installed authorities maintain that sufficient help was provided. 0n the ukraine—controlled side of the river, the quality of drinking water remains a major issue. these experts from a state agency have been conducting chemical and biological tests. months after the disaster, many people here still don't have water in their taps. without running water, locals in this area have had to rely on the authorities and volunteers to deliver drinking water to their towns and villages.

we go on to the village of zelene pole, not far from kryvyi rih. it is some 180km north of the dam and water reservoir. this area was not flooded, but the consequences here are also serious. volodymyr melnyk owns a farm, covering 3,000 hectares of land, growing wheat, barley and sunflowers. he also keeps pigs and sheep.

the deal volodymyr is talking about is an international agreement, which allowed ukraine to export some of its crops when russia partially lifted the blockade of ukraine's black sea ports. the un's report into fallout from the kakhovka dam breach stressed that without irrigation, this region faced a bleak future. when we look at the longer—term consequences, and that is the loss of the ability to irrigate, this will have more significant consequences in the future years unless there is some sort of rebuilding process

that takes place that will allow to renew the irrigation again. after the kakhovka dam breach, the water supply to volodymyr�*s farm stopped completely. like svitlana and vadym, volodymyr is optimistic that solutions to this crisis can be found, but, like so many, above all, he desperately hopes

for an end to the war. throughout this journey, i've witnessed the extraordinary scale of the damage and how it affected the people, farming, nature. but what has struck me too is the resilience and determination i have witnessed. a few weeks after we first met, vadym got in touch to tell me about improvements he has made to his house and farm and he invited me back to see them. we haven't been here for a couple of weeks and now, we met vadym — very busy, very absorbed

in errands and things to do. so, he promised to show us around and tell more about things he's managed to fix and what has been done so far. while vadym is feeling upbeat, the impact of this breach can still be seen all around us.

two days after we left the village, vadym's son ivan was killed by an explosive. he was 20 years old. ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world

following the russian occupation and heavy fighting. i spoke to vadym again by video link and asked how he will remember ivan.

one man's grief in the ongoing war. and a big unknown — the full toll of the kakhovka disaster — is still to reveal itself in the years to come. hello, there. the impacts from storm ciaran continue to be felt. now, on saturday across the uk, it was a day of sunshine and showers, or some longer spells of rain, for some of us, all driven in by an area of low pressure, but the low pressure has been named as a new storm that's

going to be, again, bringing severe weather to europe. western france, gusts hitting 85mph, strong enough to blow over trees, so, again, there's going to be some transport disruption and also power cuts very likely here. all the while, is—metre—high waves, that's as big as the waves could get, battering the coastline of portugal and north—west spain, and in italy, in tuscany, where we've seen severe flooding over recent days, this extra rain certainly isn't going to help things. the flooding could get worse before it gets better. now, over the next few hours for the uk, it's still quite unsettled. we've got rain, tending to ease to more showery conditions, across parts of northern england, something a bit drier for a time across the west, and temperatures around 3—7 celsius, as we head into the first part of sunday morning. so it will be a chilly start to the day. i think, through sunday morning, there will be further showers coming and going across eastern scotland, eastern england. otherwise, it's a fine and sunny and dry start to the day. however, into the afternoon we'll see showers build, particularly across western areas. but with the winds flowing in more from a west—north—westerly

direction, that's crucial for those in southern england that have been affected by those really heavy showers and flooding, while those winds should push the showers offshore at last, so it should be a dry day in the far south. for those celebrating great great uncle guy's night, well, a few more showers coming and going, particularly across western areas, some clear spells and you'll need to wrap it warmly. it will be quite a chilly one. into monday's forecast, then, and things looking unsettled this time across the north and west of the uk, with some showers or longer spells of rain here. a few showers elsewhere across england and wales, but moving through fairly promptly, given the brisk westerly winds, and temperatures continue to run a little bit below average. now, deeper into the new week, we'll replace the mixture of sunshine and showers with more general outbreaks of rain, as we head in towards the middle part of the week. and of course, with the grounds completely saturated, following our prolonged spell of wet weather, we'll have to watch carefully to see if we see more flooding issues, as this band of rain works through. it does clear through and it will be followed again

by a mixture of sunny spells and showery conditions towards the end of the week. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. another building in southern gaza destroyed in air strikes as israil�*s military operation by air and as israil�*s military operation by airand ground by air and ground contingencies. by airand ground contingencies. —— continues. america's top diplomat is on a regional push for humanitarian pauses, but rejects new calls for an immediate

israeli ceasefire. ceasefire now would simply leave hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on october 7. a new report reveals that for the first time in 20 years, infant deaths in the us rose. iam helena humphrey. it is good to have you with us. it has now been four weeks since the weeks by hamas killed more than moo people in israel. israel is continuing to push further into gaza city in its ground offensive with 20 israeli soldiers now reported killed since the operation began. its ground offensive is focused on the north of the territory where it is thought that up to 400,000 people remain despite calls from israel to move south. this was the scene in gaza just a few hours ago. you can see there large

explosions lighting up the night sky.