the bbc finds evidence of major success in clamping down on opium growing in afghanistan. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. thank you for being with us. we start in ukraine, and the attack on a crucial dam in the south of the country. thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, because of rising flood waters. the dam sits between russian held territory to the south and ukrainian territory to the north. kyiv says that moscow is to blame, and so do nato and the eu, which has called the destruction a war crime . at a un meeting, russia has accused ukraine of sabotage. the uk prime minister, rishi sunak has said to kherson now, and this report from our ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse. i think it is still if you go by what us officials are saying just today it is still in its early phases. it has started nevertheless where ukrainian forces, small new units are probing different parts of this vast front line. they re trying to fin
live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it s newsday. hi there, thank you for being with us. we start in ukraine and the attack on a crucial dam in the south of the country. thousands of people have been forced to evacuate because of rising flood waters. the dam sits between russian held territory to the south, and ukrainian territory to the north. kyiv says that moscow is to blame and so do nato and the eu, which has called the destruction a war crime. at a un meeting, russia has accused ukraine of sabotage. the uk prime minister, rishi sunak has said it s too soon to make a definitive judgment, but if russia is found responsible, it would demonstrate the new lows that we will have seen from russian aggression . to kherson now and this report from our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse. i think it is still if you go by what you officials are saying just today it is still in its early phases. -by by what us officials are saying- it has starte
are saying just today it is still in its early phases. it has started nevertheless where ukrainian forces, small new units are probing different parts of this vast front line. they re trying to find different weaknesses, so what the destruction of the dam means is that a major potential crossing point has effectively been taken off the table. it means ukrainian forces couldn t cross along the dam itself, and it also means that they couldn t mount some kind of amphibious assault involving boats, involving troops making their way across, trying to form some kind of temporary crossing to eventually push forward. that would be the most ambitious attempt i think in military circles, it was seen as one of the least likely paths for a counteroffensive but for kyiv, it s about making russia guess, and i think what we ve seen from invading forces is an effective counterpunch. after months of ukraine and the west talking up this counteroffensive,
crossing point has effectively been taken off the table. it means ukrainian forces couldn t cross along the dam itself and it also means they couldn t mount some kind of amphibious assault involving boats, involving troops making their way across, trying to form some kind of temporary crossing and eventually pushing forward. that would be the most ambitious attempt in military circles it will be seen as one of the least likely paths for a counteroffensive. for kyiv, it s about making russia guess, and i think what we ve seen from invading forces is an effective counterpunch after months of ukraine at the west talking up this counteroffensive, russia, previously so deliberately trying to seize control of the narrative and information war, and should moscow be behind the destruction of the dam, should moscow be behind the destruction of the darn, it said counterpunch, but working out exactly who is behind it and this apparent destination, i don t think we will ever realise, but we need t
i think it is still if you go by what you officials are saying just today it is still in its early phases. -by by what us officials are saying- it has started nevertheless where ukrainian forces, small new units are probing different parts of this vast front line. they re trying to find different weaknesses, so what the destruction of the dam means is that a major potential crossing point has effectively been taken off the table. it means ukrainian forces couldn t cross along the dam itself, and it also means that they couldn t mount some kind of amphibious assault involving boats, involving troops making their way across, trying to form some kind of temporary crossing to eventually push forward. that would be the most ambitious attempt i think in military circles, it was seen as one of the least likely paths for a counteroffensive