One killed in Russian 'targeted strikes' on Kherson - Ukraine prosecutor's office

Russian shelling killed a civilian in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday as people were being evacuated because of flooding caused by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, Ukraine's Prosecutor General said. The Prosecutor General's office said two other people were wounded in the incident and that four were hurt in a separate location, and that a war crimes investigation had been opened.

Russian shelling killed a civilian in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday as people were being evacuated because of flooding caused by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, Ukraine's Prosecutor General said.

The Prosecutor General's office said two other people were wounded in the incident and that four were hurt in a separate location, and that a war crimes investigation had been opened. "Due to targeted strikes by the occupiers during evacuation measures in the city, a civilian died," it said in a statement.

The Interior Ministry said eight people had been wounded during Russian strikes on Kherson but mentioned no deaths. The ministry said the Russian shelling had begun "precisely during the evacuation of citizens whose homes were flooded".

It reiterated accusations that Russia has abandoned people in territory it has occupied in the Kherson region, adding: "And it continues to prevent Ukraine from saving the most valuable - human lives." A Reuters reporter in Kherson said he could hear what appeared to be artillery fire but was unable immediately to provide any details of the circumstances. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has denied targeting civilians though it has bombarded cities across Ukraine.

Kherson lies on the Dnipro, about 60 km (37 miles) downstream from the Kakhovka dam. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said earlier on Thursday that 68% of the flooded territory in the Kherson region was on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River.

Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of shelling rescue workers in Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, and each side blames the other for the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station and dam on Tuesday.