June 7, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns expressed hope Wednesday that China “will make the right choice” on pushing Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

“That's what the world wants and expects. I think the jury's out. I can't predict what the government of the People's Republic will do. But that's what we're obviously standing for, and they know our position,” he added.

Burns said he recently met with the Chinese envoy who traveled to Ukraine, Li Hui.

Some background: China has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine or call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s territory.

A vaguely worded 12-point position paper on China’s vision for the “political settlement” of the conflict, released earlier this year, said the “legitimate security concerns” of “all countries” should be be addressed. It also said the “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity” of all countries must be upheld.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks, two US officials and a source familiar with the matter told CNN. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that US President Joe Biden will “at some point” meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping as well.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed in separate phone calls Wednesday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to establish an international commission to investigate the dam damage in the Kherson region. 

President Erdogan stated in both calls that an international commission could be established with the participation of experts from the warring parties, the United Nations, and the international community, including Turkey, for a detailed investigation into the "explosion" at the Nova Kakhovka dam, according to a statement made by the Turkish presidency's Directorate of Communications. 

During the separate calls with both leaders, President Erdogan stated that it is important to carry out a comprehensive investigation "that leaves no room for suspicion."

On the call with Erdogan, Putin accused Ukraine of committing terrorist acts.

“A clear example of this is the barbaric action to destroy the [Kakhovka] hydroelectric power station in the Kherson region, which led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian catastrophe,” according to a Kremlin readout of the call.

Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the dam breach, which occurred in territory occupied by Russia. The cause remains unclear, and CNN analysis of satellite images shows the dam was damaged just days before it collapsed.

Some more context: A major dam and hydroelectric power plant in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine was destroyed early Tuesday, prompting mass evacuations and fears for large-scale devastation as Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other. Ukraine accused Moscow’s forces of committing an act of “ecocide.” The Kremlin denied involvement and accused Ukraine of "deliberate sabotage" of the dam.

The dam is a critical piece of infrastructure: It supplies water for much of southeastern Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and the Crimean peninsula.

The Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine collapsed early Tuesday, forcing thousands to flee their homes and threatening vital water supplies as flooding threatened parts of the southern Kherson region.

The critical dam is the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume. It's the last of the cascade of six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine. There are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.

See more photos from the aftermath of the dam collapse here.

Ten thousand hectares of agricultural land are expected to flood after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed, according to the Ukrainian Agricultural Ministry.

The figure only accounts for the Ukraine-controlled part of the area, which is the right side of the bank, the ministry said, adding that it would be "several times more on the left bank."

The collapse could turn fields in southern Ukraine "into deserts," the ministry added.

The following areas are "without a source of water" after the collapse, according to the ministry: 

Ukrainian troops witnessed Russian soldiers being swept up in floodwaters and fleeing the east bank of the Dnipro River after the collapse of the Nova Khakovka dam, an officer in Ukraine's armed forces said. Many Russian troops were killed or wounded in the chaos, according to the officer. 

Capt. Andrei Pidlisnyi said when the dam collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning “no one on the Russian side was able to get away. All the regiments the Russians had on that side were flooded.” 

Pidlisnyi told CNN he believed the Russians had deliberately attacked the dam to disrupt Ukrainian forces’ plans for an upcoming offensive. 

Pidlisnyi explained that the lay of the land around the river meant that Russia’s military — located on the east bank — suffered serious impacts in the dam’s breach. His unit was able to watch the events unfold through the use of drones and troops on the scene.

The Russian units in harm’s way may not have been warned, possibly to maintain the element of surprise, Pidlisnyi said.

Pointing blame: Ukraine’s government has echoed Pidlisnyi’s contention that Russia deliberately blew up the dam, while the Kremlin has said it was Kyiv’s forces that carried out an attack. 

In fact, evidence to conclusively support either side’s claim is yet to emerge, while analysis of videos of the dam, and its subsequent breach, and in particular examination of satellite imagery, suggest the collapse could have been the result of structural failure since the Russians occupied the dam in March last year.

More than 24 hours after the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam, the search and rescue operation in Kherson remains in full swing.  

Authorities and volunteers continue to use wooden boats and rubber dinghies to evacuate people — and a large number of cats and dogs — who were left stranded as water levels have continued to rise overnight.

They have been working relentlessly since the city started to flood and now, exhausted and overwhelmed, are very much a facet of this tragedy.

The people coming off the boats are visibly shaken by the ordeal — some breaking down into tears as they finally reach dry land. The animals also seem in distress. The constant howling and meowing echo through the scene as operations continue.

Some areas that were accessible on foot on Tuesday are now completely underwater — in some locations, the water is up to four meters (13 feet) deep. There is, however, a sense from authorities that water levels, although still rising, are now doing so at a slower pace.

As the humanitarian crisis continues to unravel before our eyes, the war is ever-present and Kherson remains very much a frontline city. 

Outgoing and incoming artillery — rocket, mortars, etc — could be heard every hour throughout the day on Tuesday and then through the night and into Wednesday morning.

Shelling seems to have calmed down in the past few hours, but sporadic fire is still heard in the distance.

The Ukrainian government nonetheless promising the rumbles of war will not impact search and rescue operations.

 No respite, no truce even amidst the tragedy.

At least seven people are missing following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, the occupied town's Moscow-appointed mayor told Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday. 

Ukraine, meanwhile, says it has evacuated more than 1,500 people from Ukrainian-controlled flooded Kherson areas. Authorities added in a post on Telegram that "20 settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River and more than 1,900 houses were flooded in Kherson region."

Below are the latest developments:

Ukrainian police say they have received three calls regarding missing persons in the Kherson region flooding as a result of the burst dam upstream.

Writing on Telegram the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Leonid Tymchenko said, “As of this morning, we have received three calls to the 102 line regarding people who went missing under special circumstances in the Kherson region.”

On the Russian-controlled side of the river, the Russian-installed mayor of Kherson said that he is aware of at least seven people being missing. 

Some context: There are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

Between 35 and 80 settlements were expected to be flooded due to the breach, Zelensky said, and aid efforts are ongoing to get drinking water, hygiene kits and other supplies to affected neighborhoods.

In the low lying districts of Kherson, a CNN team on the ground saw residents evacuated from their homes carrying their possessions and pets in their arms as rising floodwaters penetrated one city block in less than an hour.

As the area is on the front lines of the conflict, the rising water brings with it an added danger of mine and explosive ordnance contamination.

Both Moscow and Kyiv noted the humanitarian and environmental consequences, while blaming each other for the dam’s collapse. CNN has not been able to establish either claim.

Fighting around Bakhmut “remains the epicenter of hostilities,” Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said Wednesday. 

Speaking on Telegram, Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces have made gains ranging from 200 meters (656 feet) in some areas to 1,100 meters (3,609 feet) in others, but did not say where exactly. 

Maliar also noted that Wagner fighters had largely withdrawn, noting they “remain in some places in the rear” and the large majority of the fighting is now being conducted by regular units of the Russian Federation, including airborne units.

The head of the Wagner military group in Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused Russia of sabotaging his withdrawal from Bakhmut last week, claiming exit routes were mined.

Some context: Bakhmut sits toward the northeast of the Donetsk region, about 13 miles from the Luhansk region, and had long been a target for Russian forces. Since last summer the city has been a stone’s throw from the front lines.

Last month, Russian forces said they had finally captured the embattled eastern city. It followed a months-long slog where Russian soldiers had to grind for every inch of territory.