Ukrainians weigh order to leave after dam breach, as Russian troops patrol

By Filipp Lebedev and Lucy Papachristou

(Reuters) - Russian occupation authorities ordered residents of three districts to leave their homes on Tuesday after the huge Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was breached in the early hours, but some locals said they would stay despite the rising waters.

Residents contacted by Reuters said the mood was tense in the town of Nova Kakhovka, which sits on the Russian-controlled southern bank of the Dnipro River, on the downriver side of the dam.

Russian soldiers were patrolling the streets, several local people said.

"All approaches to the river are blocked for the local population by Russian invaders. Getting close, and especially taking a photo or video, is deadly. They say they are ready to shoot without warning," said one local man, Hlib.

"If you come a metre closer than allowed, they immediately start yelling obscenities. We're still allowed to go to the store, but we don't know what orders will be given next."

Yevheniya, a female resident, said the water was up to the knees of Russian soldiers walking the main street in high rubber boots. "If you try to go somewhere they don't allow, they immediately point their machine guns at you," she said.

"More and more water is coming every hour, it's very dirty."

Ukraine and Russia each accused the other of blowing up the dam.

The Russian-installed administration in Ukraine's Kherson region, which Moscow has unilaterally claimed as its own but only partly controls, issued evacuation instructions to residents of the Nova Kakhovka, Oleshky and Hola Prystan districts.

It told them to "collect personal belongings and documents, take food for 3 days and drinking water. Turn off gas and water before leaving your residential buildings".

RESIDENTS PLAN TO STAY

One resident, Serhii, said many were planning to stay, however, and were stocking up.

Another, Kirill, said he had been out of town on Monday night, but that his elderly grandparents had been woken by an explosion between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

He said they were staying indoors to avoid soldiers.

"They are in a slightly panicky mood. There have been no evacuation notices yet, but they were looking through their things and documents at six in the morning," Kirill said. "We are preparing for the worst."

A zoo called Kazkova Dibrova, located right on the bank of the Dnipro, was completely flooded and all 300 animals were dead, a representative said via the zoo's Facebook account.

"The park was mined and it was impossible to evacuate the animals. We tried to save them. Every day, under fire, two workers risked their lives to go to Dibrova to feed the animals," the representative said. "Now Russia has destroyed everything. Our soul is torn by pain."

The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, said the water level was continuing to rise.

"An evacuation is being carried out of civilians from the adjacent flooded zones to preserve all lives," he said in a video message. "There is no panic in the town."

Nova Kakhovka still had electricity, but two villages downstream were taken off the grid for safety reasons, Leontyev said.

An emergencies official alongside him said the water below the dam was expected to keep rising for 72 hours before subsiding and allowing a clean-up operation.

Images posted on social media showed a flooded central square in Nova Kakhovka, with waters halfway up the entrance doors to its neo-classical cultural centre.

Yevheniya, the female resident, said she was planning to stay.

"I have a bedridden grandmother - 95 years old, she's a veteran of the Second World War," she said.

"Where will I go? Who will I leave her to? I am her guardian, and you have to follow your conscience."

(Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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