Russian forces shelled the flood-stricken metropolis of Kherson on Thursday, hanging near an evacuation level, solely hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky visited town to witness the aftermath of the destruction of a dam on the Dnipro River earlier this week.

Hundreds of people that had been gathered close to an evacuation level at Ship Square, within the coronary heart of town, scrambled for canopy when explosions rang out, witnesses stated, describing a number of strikes in and across the sq..

Volunteers, medics, emergency staff and rescue groups concerned in coordinating help efforts have been assembly on larger floor close to the sq., which is itself flooded however is getting used as an evacuation level as a result of it’s a recognized landmark.

Nine folks had been injured within the shelling close to the evacuation level, amongst them one policeman, one emergency employee and one volunteer from Germany, in accordance with Oleksandr Prokudin, the pinnacle of Kherson regional navy administration.

The explosions hit at round 2 p.m. native time. “Leave, leave,” one man shouted, in accordance with a witness. A younger man held a bandage on the wounded head of an older man, and blood dripped down the youthful man’s arm as he tried to supply phrases of consolation, witnesses stated.

Serhiy Ludensky, a volunteer from an animal care middle, was on a ship close to Ship Square when the shelling hit a constructing shut by, he stated. He stated he might hear folks screaming. “There was nowhere to hide,” he stated. The folks on the boat managed to interrupt down the door of a flooded constructing to attend for the explosions to cease.

Kristina Berdynskykh, a journalist from Kherson, had simply completed an interview with a 14-year-old boy who escaped from occupied territory by boat with 5 members of his household, when the primary explosions echoed over the waters.

“We just tried to hide by the nearest wall, but someone told us it is unsafe and we should move to another place, and I began to run to my colleagues from other media,” she stated. They lastly discovered a constructing they may disguise in for greater than half-hour earlier than they emerged.

Ship Square was one among a number of areas within the metropolis of Kherson focused by the Russian forces on Thursday, in accordance with Ukrainian officers and witnesses.

Ukrainian officers accused Russian troopers of opening fireplace on folks making an attempt to evacuate from the flooded metropolis of Oleshky, which lies on the Russian-controlled jap financial institution of the Dnipro River.

A New York Times photographer was on a ship within the flooded Korabel neighborhood of town when he noticed at the least two waves of shelling hit close by, round 10 minutes aside. The second assault hit a barge close to a bridge that hyperlinks the island neighborhood with the mainland.

Brendan Hoffman contributed reporting.