Moment Russian soldiers become ‘stuck in tree’ after destruction of Kakhova dam

Russian soldiers became stuck in a tree after their own army was accused of laying waste to Ukraine’s Kakhova dam.

Footage posted on social media shows a group of Russian soldiers attempting to climb down from a tree – before soon realising they cannot due to the rushing water underneath.

Ukraine has claimed that Russia blew up the dam from within on Tuesday, accusing them of triggering an explosion that has turned the downstream areas into a waterlogged wasteland. In response, Moscow has blamed military strikes ordered by Kyiv.

Captain Andrei Pidlisnyi, an officer in Ukraine’s armed forces, told CNN on Wednesday that Russian forces were swept away by floodwaters while trying to escape following the collapse of the dam.

“All the regiments the Russians had on that side were flooded,” he said.

He claimed that many Russian troops were killed or wounded in the chaos.

In a statement, Ukraine’s military said the flooding in Kherson had forced Russian troops to retreat by up to 15km and had “practically halved” Russian shelling.

The Standard could not independently verify the footage.

Hundreds of Ukrainians were rescued from rooftops in the flood-stricken southern region of Kherson on Thursday after the destruction of the dam.

Drone video showed areas where often only the roofs were visible above the flooding.

The region's governor said some 600 square kilometres remains under water.

The dam collapse happened as Ukraine prepared a major counteroffensive to recapture land occupied by the Russian army.

In its daily Ukraine briefing, the UK Ministry of Defence on Thursday reported heavy fighting along “multiple sectors of the front”, adding that Kyiv held the initiative in most areas.

Russian shelling killed a civilian in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, about 60 km downstream from the dam, on Thursday as people were being evacuated, Ukraine's Prosecutor General said.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional administration, said about 1,700 people had been evacuated in Ukraine-controlled areas as of Wednesday.