Ukrainians in the devastated Kherson region have warned of “ecocide” as thousands scrambled to rescue loved ones and animals left stranded after the destruction of a dam on Tuesday left many areas under water.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said all animals at a zoo in Kakhovka died in the flooding, with only ducks and swans able to escape.
Volunteers have shared video of efforts to rescue traumatised animals and local residents, with social media footage showing shaking creatures saved from high waters by civilians.
“I am not a volunteer. I just love animals so much. We are rescuing any we can – there are so many of them trapped,” one woman told Ukrainian media as she held a shivering dog in a video circulating online. Others were seen rescuing stranded cows and pigs from flooded farms.
Animal rights groups from across Ukraine have descended on the region and said thousands of creatures are in danger amid an “ecocide”.
Kyiv has also used the term amid the devastating flooding caused by the dam collapse, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “absolutely deliberate”.
“Russian terrorists have once again proved that they are a threat to everything living,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
A state of emergency has been imposed in the Russian-annexed part of the Kherson, Moscow's Tass news agency said.
So far, at least seven people are missing after waters from the destroyed dam flooded nearby areas.
“Seven people we know for sure [are missing],” Nova Kakhovka mayor Vladimir Leontiev told Tass on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the region are now without access to drinking water, Mr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday following the destruction of the dam a day earlier.
More than 900 people were moved on Tuesday from the Russian-controlled city of about 45,000 people, which is on the south bank of the Dnipro river.
About 42,000 people were at risk from flooding in Russian and Ukrainian controlled areas along the river, Ukrainian officials said, as the UN aid chief warned of “grave and far-reaching consequences”.
Mr Leontiev said that parts of Russian minefields flooded after the dam burst.
Ukraine and Russia each blame the other for the destruction of the dam, which was in Russian-held territory.
Ukraine’s hydroelectric energy company stated that it was blown up from inside.
Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area, where the river separates the two sides.
The international community has warned of a human and ecological disaster whose repercussions will take days to assess and far longer to recover from.
The dam break, which both sides long feared, adds a new dimension to the war, now in its 16th month.
Ukrainian forces were widely seen to be moving forward with a long-anticipated counteroffensive along more than 1,000km of front line in the east and south.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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Gulf Men's League final
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
Royal Birkdale Golf Course
Location: Southport, Merseyside, England
Established: 1889
Type: Private
Total holes: 18
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
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Power: 659hp
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
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