from berlin. a humanitarian disaster unfolding in southern ukraine after a russian held dam is destroyed. both sides are trading blame for destroying the dam. homes, crops, and drinking water risk with many thousands of residents already evacuated. swift condemnation of the destruction comes from western leaders pretty nato, germany and the u.k. are calling it outrageous, brutal, and a war

crime. the un security council convenes an emergency meeting. also coming up, germany looks to boost security ties in the indo pacific. defense minister boris pistorius is in india hoping to dent russia's growing influence there. ♪ i'm nicole frolich. to those of you joining us on pbs in the united states and everyone else watching around the globe, it is good to happy with us. a humanitarian emergency is unfolding in southern ukraine following the destruction of a major dam controlled by russia. kyiv is accusing moscow of bronco -- blowing up the kakhovka dam amid signs of a ukrainian counteroffensive gaining traction. thousands of civilians have been forced to evacuate, prompting local officials to declare a state of emergency. concerns over the nearby

zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are also growing. it draws water from the reservoir that is now draining away. meanwhile the kremlin is accusing ukraine of sabotage to distract from alleged failures on the battlefield. reporter: a wall of water surged through a massive breach in the kakhovka dam. floodwaters appearing to overwhelm what was left of the damaged infrastructure. as the torrent rushed downstream , the level of the dnipro river rose several meters. submerging roads, parks, rooftops. and even carrying away buildings. hundreds of residents began evacuating. ukrainian officials said up to

80 towns and villages were at risk of flooding. >> evacuation of people to safe areas has begun. all services are working. emergency service, police, military, altogether. i urge you to take essentials and documents and wait for evacuation buses. also i am addressing residents of the left bank. please do everything possible to save your lives and leave the insecure place at once. reporter: as the water continued to breach the river's banks, more people prepared to flee. >> what i going to do? i need to take my animals with me and go visit my relatives upstream. reporter: much of the affected area in southern ukraine is under russian control. the russian installed head of the kherson region shared this footage of a flooded town center. the dam reservoir provides

cooling water for the zaporizhzhia power plant, but the un's nuclear watchdog said it saw no immediate nuclear safety risk. >> the damage to the kakhovka dam is currently leading to about five centimeters per hour reduction in the height of the reservoir. the team continues to monitor this rate and all other matters on the site. reporter: ukrainian authorities have previously warned that the dam's failure could unleash 18 billion cubic meters of water, creating not only a human it. disaster, -- only a humanitarian disaster, but an economic one too. nicole: current advisor to the government in kyiv told us about the damage caused by the flooding so far.

>> about 50 villages and towns under threat of flooding. tens of them have already been flooded. there is evacuation from kherson and from villages nearby. that is the territory controlled by the ukrainian government. thousands have been evacuated. we don't know yet if anyone has died. that data is not available. we know very little about what happens on the left bank of the dnieper river, the one which is occupied and controlled by the russian military. but the images we have seen on social media, they show extensive flooding. nicole: the kremlin blames ukraine for destroying the dam. what do you say to that? >> this is ridiculous. they have controlled over the dam, over the territory, from the beginning of the war. so, ukrainian military or anyone

else has no access to the area. these dams had been built during the soviet union times with excess capacity to withstand all kind of shocks, including earthquakes and explosions. the russian missiles have hit areas close on some of these dams. for example, kyiv, during winter attacks on the infrastructure. they posed no serious damage to the dams. to destroy them like that requires truckloads or maybe trains of explosives. and they cannot be delivered by any conventional missiles. and of course there was nothing of the sort. so it was by the russian military. i have seen reports that the u.s. is preparing to release intelligence that proves this claim or sheds light behind the

explosion and i hope the u.s. does that soon so there is no real question about who is the aggressor here. nicole: we will sit tight and wait for those reports to come out. in the meantime, i want to talk about the people affected by this. the area is home to some 40,000 residents. what will be the consequences for the people up and downstream? tymofiy: their lives have been shattered. they have suffered enough already through the war being shelled during the last weeks, during the last months, during the entire year. some of them have been tortured under the occupation. some of them have lost loved ones, family, relatives. now they are going to lose houses. it might seem abstract from afar, but in practice you have your house, and now your house is gone. all of your livelihood, all of your life is gone.

the history of your family is gone. you now have to live somewhere else because where you live is now underwater and it is gone forever. so this is a tragedy, on top of the tragedy of the war that we have already. nicole: the kherson region is considered to be ukraine's breadbasket. what do you think will be the economic consequences of the flooding? tymofiy: there are multiple simulation scenarios from different think tanks at the moment. all of them show that the irrigation system downstream in kherson will be severely affected if not completely disabled. that means the ability to irrigate and farm will be severely limited. it also shows there will be upstream pushback, kind of a reverse of flood, through the rivers. it is important for irrigation, so this is a real problem. in the next day or two we will see what specifically the shape it will take. nicole: let's talk about the

military operation. the dnieper river is also a frontline in this war. what will the destruction of the dam mean for ukraine's attempt to pushback russian troops along the eastern bank? tymofiy: in that specific area it was extremely difficult to cross the river. it is a big river, so the river gets bigger and faster and deeper. any amphibious assault there would be really challenging. so destruction of the dam by russians shows in some sense that they are desperate. they don't plan on any counteroffensive from their side trying to take kherson. they are really concerned about securing crimea. in my view, and i am not a military expert, but that is what i hear from some military experts, is that crimea is vulnerable, and that's one way to try to make sure there's no threat coming from the side of the front line. nicole: tymofiy mylovanov,

advisor to the ukrainian government, thank you so much for your insights and your time. tymofiy: thank you. nicole: the united nations security council is at this very moment holding an emergency session to discuss the dam's destruction. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres called the breach a humanitarian, economic, and environmental catastrophe. western leaders have been echoing those words while placing responsibility at moscow's door. reporter: hours after the instruction at kakhovka dam, germany's change of it was taking part in a public form on local television. when asked about the damage in southern ukraine, he did not hesitate when it came to laying blame. >> this is something that fits in with many of the crimes we have seen committed by russian soldiers in ukraine. and is part of a warfare that attacks civilian targets.

towns, villages, hospitals, schools, infrastructure, which in the first place would not be military targets. and therefore, this is something that has a new dimension, but also fits into the way russian president vladimir putin is waging this war. reporter: but moscow accuses kyiv of sabotage. the defense minister claiming ukraine blew up the dam to prevent a russian offensive along the front line. >> the kyiv regime committed another terrorist crime. the kakhovka electric dam was blown up which led to the flooding of significant territories. reporter: from islamic in slovakia, ukraine's allies had strong words for the gram one. nato's chief blaming moscow's invasion for the dam's destruction. >> the destruction of the kakhovka dam today puts

thousands of civilians at risk, and causes severe environmental damage. this is an outrageous act, which demonstrates once again the brutality of russia's war in ukraine. reporter: stoltenberg said russian aggression was destabilizing security, and pledged to further expand nato support for ukraine. nicole: earlier, i asked dr. jade mcglynn, a research fellow at king's college london, who stands to gain most from the dam being destroyed. dr. mcglynn: there are a lot of different ways to answer the question. it is also the top headline on a very popular russian tabloid newspaper. there, it sets out all the different reasons why ukraine would have -- why it would be in ukraine's interest to do this. ultimately when you look at it,

can it really be in ukraine's interest to blow up a dam that not only puts thousands of lives at risks, but will cost the country $1 trillion when it does not have that money, and will pretty much, perhaps not permanently, but at least temporarily destroy most of southern ukraine when their export is grain. it does stretch could you rudely -- stretches credulity. nicole: the civilians caught up in the middle of it all, what can you tell us about the efforts to rescue people on both sides of the dnieper river? dr. mcglynn: there are a lot of conflicting reports related to the russian side. some reports say russians are not letting civilians out. other people from other cities and towns are saying that they are being able to leave and they are being evacuated.

so the situation is unclear. what i mean by that, is i was just referring to the area controlled by russian troops. on the side ukraine has already liberated, of course it is disastrous for lots of reasons. there has not been the same level of international support that haps one would normally expect when you think back to floods in the balkans, etc. ukrainians once again have shown the horizontal ties that exist among them, the way that there is a very strong civil society, very much helping each other out, opening their homes. i suppose it is a slightly hopeful story on a pretty depressing day. nicole: what are the military implications? the dnipro river was a frontline. is it still? dr. mcglynn: yes.

i mean, i'm not a military specialist, but of course it is still a frontline. in kherson in particular, the russians are in control of the left bank, and the ukrainians have the right bank. one of the suggestions that has been put forward -- again, i am not in a position to assess the accuracy of this -- but one of the suggestions that has been put forward by many people is that this was part of sort of the russian reaction to the counteroffensive, to just sort of destroy it so it would be much more difficult for ukrainians to be able to cross. nicole: zooming out of it, where does the counteroffensive stand at this point? dr. mcglynn: it is very hard to know. i think there is a lot of operations but obviously we have been having scoping operations in terms of probing attacks for

quite a few weeks. certainly the russian side claimed that the counteroffensive has already begun in the ministry of defense has claimed the russians have been able to easily put this down. however, i think that seems unlikely. or at the very least premature given that we already know ukrainians are taking positions in the heights around bakhmut, already retaking areas there. with the much anticipated but in some ways much dreaded counteroffensive because of how many lives will be lost, it is too early to tell. nicole: thank you. that was dr. jade mcglynn from king's college london. always great speaking to you. dr. mcglynn: and to you. nicole: until recently, the war was largely confined to ukrainian territory but it is now spilling over into russia's

southern belgrade region. incursions there appear to be the work of russia's militia fighting against vladimir putin's regime. it is not clear how much control kyiv has over those groups, if any. dw spoke to a former russian politician who now represents the freedom of russia militia, one of the many groups fighting against russia. reporter: russian militia members taking on the kremlin. fighters from the russian volunteer corps claim in this video that they now control a village in russia's belgrade region. another group, the freedom of pressure legion, told dw they were attacking a russian city nearby. >> officially we are totally on our own. so we are not guided by ukrainian military. we use the weapons we have procured ourselves.

reporter: the freedom of russia legion says this drone video shows their members moving through a russian town. attacking russian territory is a sensitive topic for ukraine and its backers. europe and the u.s. have been slow to supply ukraine with defensive military equipment for fear of it being used on russian soil. but the militia says it's weapons don't come from ukrainian stores. at least not directly. >> all of the serious equipment those guys are using, they were all procured during fighting on the ukrainian territory. even the american equipment was previously lost by ukrainian forces and that it was retaken by our troops. everything we took during fighting, they stayed with the unions. they stayed with the regiments. that is the rule. reporter: russian state tv shows

the aftermath of the attacks. the freedom of russia legion says they want to build a new government and what they call liberated territory. but for now, they want to take control of this area and face a fight to keep it. nicole: germany wants to strengthen its security ties with india. it is the latest offer defense minister boris pistorius on his tour of the asia-pacific. he is using the trip to expand germany's security role far beyond its backyard. reporter: germany's defense minister received a warm welcome in delhi as he met with his indian counterpart. pistorius is on a mission to bolster military cooperation between the two countries and to strengthen germany's presence in the indo pacific region. >> we are planning a big joint exercise with the indian forces in the indian ocean next year. these are important examples to make clear. germany is present here and

considers itself a partner in the pacific region. reporter: but this meeting is also about weapons. pistorius met with representatives from the germans arms industry in delhi. in there plans to invest more than 5 billion euros in modern easing its submarine fleet -- modernizing its submarine fleet. germany's defense minister has shown support for chester jail -- for such a deal. >> negotiations are ongoing and the german arms industry is well-placed in this race. the point is a signal be german government supports it too, as part. reporter: is one of the world's largest armies. india has traditionally been heavily dependent on german arms suppliers, but this could reduce dependence in the long run. nicole: you're watching "dw news." still to come, we take you to the rim of an active volcano, a

place some people say brings good luck. but first, you have to get there. the past few months have seen increased diplomatic activity between japan and south korea. on a scale not seen in years. the south korean president and japanese prime minister have exchanged visits and senior offense -- defense officials met last week in singaporem diplomatic engagement that appears to have sizable support according to a survey, especially among young people. and culture appears to be at the core of that engagement. reporter: outraged protests, product boycotts, and national trade dispute. relations between japan and south korea have been on the rocks in recent years. now this flamboyant korean comedian is leading a cultural turnaround.

>> they are as popular in japan as south korea. reporter: his japanese alter ego has helped lighten the mood between these two neighbors, with songs and jokes. >> for young people like us, we don't think about reasons to be friends. we just become friends. i never thought about those reasons. we don't become friends with someone because they have certain good qualities, but because we are the same people. reporter: his sympathetic portrayal has become an online hit. he has 800,000 subscribers on youtube, tuning in to watch tanaka devour korean snacks and thousands paying to see him live, in person, on stage.

his diehard fans see his success has done much to heal the historic rift in recent years. >> i have enjoyed japanese culture since i was young. i hope people are not so narrowminded about japan, and hope it can be an opportunity to unite. >> there was a social atmosphere that sort of encouraged boycotting of japanese culture, so i was reluctant to talk about japan. however, after tanaka's debut on youtube, the the atmosphere is more of alexa. reporter: the fallout between the two countries goes back to the era of japanese colonial rule, and in particular, the exploitation of women. women like these, who were forced into sexual slavery in the 1940's.

>> they must apologize and provide compensation by thoroughly examining the comfort women issue. who ran military brothels? japan did. reporter: animosity that turned into trade disputes at the national level, and sweeping boycotts of goods. beer, fashion, and tech brands, all in the firing line. that's changed now, with japan brew back in favor again, much to the pleasure of beer lovers. >> if there's something to apologize, it is right to get an apology from japan. but i think we do not need to get hung up on that and treat them badly. as neighboring countries, our young people hope we will get along with each other. reporter: if these foes and

indeed becoming friends again, it is in snow -- it is in no small part of the healing power of culture. nicole: in indonesia, thousands of hindu worshipers have climbed an active volcano to offer tribute, on the hope it will bring them good luck. it is all part of an ancient religious ritual. reporter: a journey to please the gods. thousands of devotees gathered at the flame of this active volcano. worshipers from the tribe, an indigenous group in eastern java, climb it each year to sacrifice some of their belongings. some kerry produce, and some, like this produce, can afford to sacrifice their goat to the smoking crater. it is a way for the villagers to offer gratitude to their gods. >> we have a lot of cows back home, and so one of them can be considered additional. i have brought one cow here to

return it to the gods. i do this once a year because i am hoping for a better income. my wealth is better now than before, therefore, i have come to offer my thanks. reporter: but not everything gets smoked in the volcano. villagers from other tribes are ready on the steep slopes to catch the offerings. the sacrifice is a part of a centuries-old festival. it is on the 14th day of the festival when worshipers make offerings to the mountain gods. the legend is that in the 15th century, a childless prince and princess of the hindu empire were granted their wish for children by the gods, but on the promise that their youngest child would be sacrificed to the volcano for the prosperity of

their people. since then, the festival continues, and it is the fate of the local -- faith of the local tribe that drives them to continue the jewel. nicole: kyiv and moscow are choosing each other blowing up a major dam and a russian controlled part of southern ukraine. officials in the area around the kakhovka dam have declared a state of emergency. evacuations are underway of residents downstream. stay with us now. after a short break, i will be to take you through "the day." hope to see you there. bye-bye. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. these are our headlines -- the breach of a dam in ukraine causes damage and flooding in an area where tens of thousands of people live. because cause of that breach is not yet clear -- the cause of that breach is not yet clear. elections will be held in kosovo, elections that were boycotted by the country's ethnic serve minority last time around -- ethnic serb minority last time around.