Our last post discussed the impacts on flooding on Russian-held territory after the Kakhovka dam breach. And here are some of the latest images we've seen of people and animals affected on the Ukrainian side.

The huge structure in the Kherson region was damaged last week - unleashing a major flood.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The death toll from a flood sparked by last week's Khakovka dam breach has reportedly risen to 17 in areas of Ukraine's Kherson region that are held by Russia.

"As of this morning, 12 dead were confirmed in Gola Prystan and five in Oleshky," said Andrei Alekseyenko, head of the Russian-installed government in the region.

Coastal areas were flooded after the destruction of the infrastructure - for which both sides blamed each other. BBC correspondent Paul Adams said the evidence overwhelmingly suggested it was Russia's doing.

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Following those comments from the German defence minister, let's look back over a couple more recent statements from Ukraine's allies about its ongoing counter-offensive.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that Washington would "maximise our support" - as he believed peace could be brought closer by Ukrainian success on the battlefield.

And French President Emmanuel Macron said France had "done everything" it could to help, having "intensified" its delivery of ammunitions, weapons and armed vehicles. He said he expected the Ukrainian push to unfold "over several weeks or even months".

Germany says it can't send Ukraine immediate replacements for any tanks destroyed or abandoned in battle.

In an interview with German broadcaster RTL aired last night, external, the defence minister was asked about footage which purportedly showed some Western vehicles lost to Russia (as referenced in our last post, and which we're looking into ourselves). These included German-made Leopard tanks.

Boris Pistorius did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the video, but said: "Unfortunately it is the nature of war that weapons are destroyed, that tanks are destroyed and people are killed."

He also said: "We will not be able to replace every tank that is now out of action".

Russia's defence ministry has posted video footage on messaging app Telegram, external, showing what it claims to be German-made Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley fighting vehicles captured on the battlefield.

The BBC has not yet been able to verify this footage but we're currently looking into it.

Image source, .

The UK's Ministry of Defence has published its latest daily intelligence update, external on the Ukraine war - this time focusing on Russia's alleged supply of attack drones. Here are the key points:

• It's "highly likely" that in recent months Russia has tried to ensure a "long-term, high-volume supply of one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles"
• Russia is receiving these drones from Iran, and has likely gone from receiving "small deliveries" by air to "larger consignments by ship" via the Caspian Sea
• Iran is breaching a UN Security Council resolution, the MoD adds
• Russia is also aiming to start producing these weapons itself, "almost certainly with Iranian assistance", which would give Russia "a relatively cheap long-range strike capability"

Neither Russia nor Iran has commented.

We've received some more images from Kryvyi Rih, where emergency services have been at work after several civilian buildings were damaged in alleged Russian missile strikes.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, National Police of Ukraine

Image source, National Police of Ukraine

James FitzGerald
Live reporter

We've been running for a few hours this morning - so let's briefly take stock.

We've got our eyes out for any developments on the Ukrainian counter-offensive - after officials said yesterday that seven settlements had been taken back since launching their push.

Our coverage began with a more familiar story, however - that of an alleged Russian strike on a Ukrainian city. This time, the president's home city was targeted - leaving at least six people dead. Moscow is yet to comment.

And there's been a fresh warning about the war's impacts on the rest of the world. The UN says last week's breach of the Kakhovka dam has had the effect of threatening global food security - due to the impact on important farmland.

My teammates Krystyna Gajda, Jack Burgess, Nicholas Yong and I will continue to keep you posted.

Image source, Reuters

The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator has been speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the impact of major flooding from last week's Kakhovka dam breach.

"We're still very much in the emergency response phase," Martin Griffiths says, adding that "we've reached now about 180,000 people".

He says there's a "massive worry about the environmental destruction".

Griffiths says the flooded area in Ukraine is a "bread basket - not just for Ukraine but for the world".

It is almost inevitable that "we're going to see huge problems in harvesting and in sowing", he says, which will cause "a huge impact on global food security".

He also says there are concerns over mines floating in the flood water and a lack of drinking water available as a result of the dam's collapse.

Image source, Reuters

Here's a further update on the Ukrainian counter-offensive for you.

In his regular evening video message last night, President Volodymy Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were "increasing control" in the area around Bakhmut.

He said he was "particularly grateful" for the progress being made near the eastern city. Bakhmut is known as the site of the longest and possibly bloodiest battle in the war.

The defence ministry also said yesterday that its forces had advanced "250 to 700 metres" in the direction of the city. The BBC has not been able to independently verify the battlefield claim.

• Ukrainians remember Bakhmut, city of salt and sparkling wine

There were 26 battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces over the past day in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has said.

It says "14 Russian attacks were repelled near Maryinka" - a small town in Donetsk - and that Russia also "unsuccessfully tried to attack" the eastern town of Avdiivka.

Russia has been "defending in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors", the officials also write in their morning update.

Image source, .

Image source, .

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Let's not get distracted by the recent hard-fought but tiny territorial gains Ukraine has been making as it retakes obscure, half-abandoned villages in the eastern Donetsk and south-eastern Zaporizhzhia regions.

After months of stalemate, images of victorious, battle-stained Ukrainian soldiers holding up their country's blue and yellow flag in front of a bullet-ridden building is a welcome morale boost for Ukrainians.

But in the big strategic picture, this is a sideshow.

The area of Russian-held territory that matters most in this campaign is the south: the area between the city of Zaporizhzhia and the Sea of Azov.

This is the so-called "land corridor" that connects Russia to illegally annexed Crimea, the central part of that purple-shaded strip on the map below that has barely changed since the early weeks of the invasion last year.

If Ukraine can split that in two and hold the ground it's retaken, then its offensive will have largely been successful. It would cut off Russia's troops in the west and make it hard to resupply their garrison in Crimea.

It would not necessarily spell an end to the war - which some are now predicting could drag on for years - but it would put Ukraine in a strong bargaining position when the inevitable peace talks finally take place.

• Read more here

In a video posted on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel, burning buildings in Kryvyi Rih are seen being doused with water - following an alleged Russian missile strike.

Events in the video shared by the president were verified by a witness from the Reuters news agency at the location.

Six people are now known to have died following the Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, according to local official Oleksandr Vilkul.

The rescue operation is ongoing, he writes on the Telegram messaging app., external

Let's now bring you some more detail on the villages Ukraine claims it has recaptured under a concerted push to take back territory taken by Russia.

Over the weekend, Ukraine claimed it liberated three villages in the south-east Donetsk region: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.

This was followed by claims of Storozheve being recaptured yesterday. You can see those four plotted on our map below.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar later said that the villages of Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka in the southern Zaporizhzhia region were also retaken.

“Seven settlements were liberated," she wrote on Telegram yesterday evening., external

Image source, .

Russian missile strikes overnight have hit several civilian buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih - President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown.

Here are some of the latest images from the city.

Image source, Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration via Reuters

Image source, Reuters/Alina Smutko

Image source, Reuters/Alina Smutko

It wasn't just Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv that have come under attack overnight - there are also reports of a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv on civilian buildings.

The mayor, Ihor Terekhov, says a utility company in the Kyivskyi district and a warehouse in Saltivskyi district have been damaged.

Air alerts were also heard in the Dnipropetrovsk region and the neighbouring Donetsk and Poltava regions.

Russia hasn't commented yet on the latest reports.

Image source, Carl Court/PA Wire

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been reacting to Russian missiles hitting civilian buildings in Kryvyi Rih - his hometown - overnight.

"Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people," he writes on messaging app Telegram, external.

He sends condolences "to all those who have lost their loved ones" and says "terrorists will never be forgiven".

Zelensky adds that the perpetrators will be "held accountable for every missile they launch".

We'll have more for you throughout the morning on the latest alleged attacks in Ukraine - but first, a quick look back at what happened yesterday.

• Ukraine said its forces liberated more settlements from Russian occupation, after President Zelensky confirmed on Saturday that a counter-offensive had begun
• Kyiv said it had recently retaken seven villages in total: Blahodatne, Neskuchne, Makarivka, Storozheve, Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka
• Russia did not confirm any retreat - and Ukrainian gains in this early stage of the counter-offensive have so far been modest
• Meanwhile, 95 more Ukrainians were released in a prisoner swap with Russia, President Zelensky said
• Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up a small dam – following the breach of the major Kakhovka dam one week ago
• Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin made an appeal on Russia's national day for citizens to unite through patriotism during a "difficult time"

Three people have been confirmed dead in Russia's attack on Kryvyi Rih by the regional governor, as well as 25 injuries.

Serhiy Lisak says a five-storey building is still engulfed by flames - and that there are probably more people trapped under the rubble.