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.