RUSSIAN forces today shelled a southern Ukrainian city that was inundated in a catastrophic dam collapse, Ukrainian officials said.

The officials said that some rescue work had to be suspended hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to the area to assess the damage.

At least five people are reported to have been killed, many are homeless and tens of thousands are without drinking water after the Kakhovka dam’s destruction. 

Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up the facility, which Moscow’s forces controlled, while Russia says Ukraine bombarded it.

The flooding caused by the breach has ruined crops, displaced land mines, wrought widespread environmental damage and set the stage for long-term electricity shortages. 

The dam lays along the Dnieper river, a pivotal waterway that forms part of the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

In recent weeks, Ukraine intensified shelling of Russian positions, signalling a long-trumpeted counter-offensive could finally be getting under way although Kiev has been silent about the start of any such campaign. 

Amid the fighting, both sides were coping with the fallout from the burst dam. 

On Thursday, Ukrainian rescue workers stepped up efforts to get drinking water, medical care and other support to beleaguered residents.

President Zelensky visited an aid distribution point and a medical facility and ordered Ukrainian officials to provide a “fair valuation” of the devastation to help compensate residents, his office said in an online update.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has no plans at the current moment” to visit the affected Moscow-occupied areas, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Five residents of the Russian-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka have died and two others were missing, its mayor Vladimir Leontyev said today. 

Officials say more than 6,000 people have been evacuated from dozens of inundated cities, towns and villages on both sides of the river.