More than 300 homes flooded in Russia’s Orenburg as Ural River continues to rise
A photo taken on April 8, 2024 shows rescuers evacuating residents from the flooded part of the city of Orsk, in Russia’s Orenburg region, southeast of the southern edge of the Urals.
Anatoly Zhdanov | Afp | Getty Images
More than 300 homes have been flooded in the southern Russian city of Orenburg after rapidly melting snow from the Ural Mountains caused the region’s worst flooding in decades.
Authorities warned overnight that the situation in Orenburg is dangerous and ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 by late Wednesday.
The Ural River, Europe’s third-longest, rose another 20 inches from its critical 30-foot mark late Tuesday. The river flows through Russia and Kazakhstan and into the Caspian Sea and the situation is expected to worsen by Thursday.
— Eliot Smith
Russian-controlled nuclear plant blames Ukraine for new drone attack
A view of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15, 2023.
Olga Malcheva | Afp | Getty Images
Officials at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine blamed Kiev for another drone attack on Tuesday, claiming a drone crashed into the roof of its training center.
Ukraine has denied any knowledge of a series of drone attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in recent days that have prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to sound the alarm over nuclear safety.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of being behind the attacks, but a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence service told national television on Tuesday that Ukraine “does not commit military actions or provocations at nuclear facilities,” according to Reuters.
Ukrainian intelligence officials have also accused Russia of using the seized nuclear facility as a platform for “propaganda”.
— Eliot Smith
Ukraine shot down 14 drones, two guided missiles around Odessa
Ukraine shot down 14 of 17 Shahed drones that Russia launched toward the Black Sea port of Odessa overnight, the country’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian air defense forces also destroyed two Kh-59 guided air missiles headed for Odessa, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleschuk said. CNBC could not immediately verify the claims.
— Eliot Smith
Civilian deaths and injuries in Ukraine rose sharply in March, UN human rights body says
Deaths and injuries among civilians in Ukraine rose by 20% in March this year compared to February, according to the United Nations human rights body. report Tuesday.
At least 604 civilians were killed or injured during the month, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. This includes at least 57 children, doubling the number compared to the previous month, he added.
“The increase in civilian casualties in March was mainly due to attacks by the Russian armed forces using missiles and munitions across Ukraine and increased aerial bombardment near the front lines,” the report said.
— Sophie Kinderlin
Russia has not been invited to Ukraine’s summit in Switzerland, the embassy says
Russia has not been invited to Ukraine’s planned summit in Switzerland, a representative of the Russian embassy in Switzerland confirmed to CNBC.
“The Swiss side did not send Russia an invitation to the conference. At the same time, our position is known. Even if we receive an invitation to such an event, the Russian side will not accept it,” Vladimir Khokhlov, press secretary told the embassy.
This is in line with comments previously made by Russian representatives, who said the country would not participate in the proposed summit and that it was doomed to failure without Moscow’s participation.
“The idea of a ‘peace conference’ promoted by the organizers is inappropriate for us, as it is just another variant of promoting an unsustainable ‘peace formula’ that does not take into account Russian concerns,” Khokhlov added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies are working on plans for a Ukraine summit in Switzerland, where the leaders will discuss possible approaches to conflict resolution. The talks will likely include Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula.
According to Reuters, Zelensky said over the weekend that a date for the summit could be agreed in the coming days or weeks and that 80 to 100 countries would participate.
— Sophie Kinderlin
Two dead from Ukrainian shelling of a Russian village, the local governor said
A woman and a child were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian village of Klimovo, local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said. Position on Telegram on Tuesday, which was translated by Google from CNBC.
Three other civilians were injured and received medical attention, while several cars were damaged and a fire broke out in a residential building due to the strike, he added. Klimovo is located in western Russia, near the borders with both Ukraine and Belarus.
CNBC could not independently verify the report.
— Sophie Kinderlin
Russia, Kazakhstan evacuate more than 100,000 people amid worst floods in decades
Russia and Kazakhstan ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate after rapid snowmelt swelled mighty rivers beyond their bursting point in the region’s worst flooding in at least 70 years.
The deluge of meltwater overwhelmed dozens of settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and regions of Kazakhstan near rivers such as the Ural and Tobol, which local officials said rose by meters within hours to their highest levels ever recorded.
A screen shot from a video shows residents and pets being collectively evacuated due to flooding after a dam burst in the city of Orsk, Russia on April 6, 2024.
Russian Ministry of Emergencies/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Ural River, Europe’s third largest flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan into the Caspian, burst through a dam on Friday, flooding the town of Orsk just south of the Ural Mountains.
Downstream, the water level in Orenburg, a city of about 550,000, was rising.
Sirens in Kurgan, a town on the Tobol River, a tributary of the Irtysh, warned people to evacuate immediately. A state of emergency was also declared in Tyumen, a major oil-producing region of Western Siberia – the world’s largest hydrocarbon basin.
“Difficult days are still ahead for the Kurgan and Tyumen regions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “A lot of water is coming.”
— Reuters