Kherson Governor Says 600 sq Km of Region under Water

Volunteers evacuate local residents from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Volunteers evacuate local residents from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
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Kherson Governor Says 600 sq Km of Region under Water

Volunteers evacuate local residents from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Volunteers evacuate local residents from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

Around 600 sq km of Ukraine's southern Kherson region is under water, 68% of which are located on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River, the regional governor said on Thursday.

Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app that the average water level as of Thursday morning was 5.61 meters, Reuters said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that international aid groups must take immediate action to tackle the aftermath of the destruction of a hydropower dam in Ukraine and any group not on the spot helping was simply incapable.

"It is necessary for international organizations, like the International Committee of the Red Cross, to get immediately involved in the rescue operation and help people in the occupied part of Kherson region," Zelenskiy said in his daily video address.

"If an international organization is not present in the disaster zone, it means it does not exist at all or is incapable."

Zelenskiy said residents in areas of southern Ukraine occupied by Russian troops were without water, food or medical help and it was impossible to determine how many people in this area might die.

 



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.