Putin says Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun; Kyiv says it has proof Russia blew up Kakhovka dam

Geologists say they captured seismic signals that suggest explosive devices were behind the attack on the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have both blamed each other for the attack which led to mass evacuations due to rising flood waters.

Read the full NBC News story here.

— Amanda Macias

One ship left Ukraine's port of Chornomorsk carrying 65,500 metric tons of corn under the Black Sea grain deal. The Panama-flagged vessel is destined for China, according to the U.N.-backed organization monitoring the export activity.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, is set to expire in mid-July. The agreement eased a Russian naval blockade and established a humanitarian sea corridor for agricultural products.

— Amanda Macias

The SoftServe Open Eyes charity fund delivered 1,200 sets of summer uniforms for the Ukrainian military. The set includes trousers, a T-shirt and a military tunic that was made by the Ukrainian manufacturer M-Tac.

-Pavlo Palamarchuk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, implemented a new program to assist Ukraine with the fallout triggered by the attack on the Kakhovka dam.

"In the coming days, I will be leading a mission to Ukraine, including to the affected Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video address posted to Twitter.

Grossi said he received a request for assistance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Ukraine can count on our assistance now and in dealing with the longer-term consequences of this disaster," Grossi added.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the "catastrophe is only expanding" in Kherson as Russian forces intensify shelling following days of flooding.

"Russian terrorists are trying to worsen the situation they have caused with their ecocide. Absolutely consciously. They continue to shell Kherson and the communities of the region -- already flooded by terrorists," Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel, referencing the attack on the Kakhovka dam.

Zelenskyy said that Russian forces are also deliberately targeting evacuation points in the region, calling those acts a "manifestation of evil."

"The catastrophe is only expanding and this is also a completely conscious choice of the Russian leadership," the Ukrainian leader added.

— Amanda Macias

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive has begun, speaking to a conference in the southern Russian city of Sochi.

"We can state for sure that this offensive has begun. This is evidenced by the use of strategic reserves of the Ukrainian army," Putin told Russian press, according to a translation by Reuters. "Ukrainian troops did not achieve their goals in any sector."

The Russian president said this was thanks to "the courage of Russian soldiers" and "proper organization of troops." He added that the last three days have seen intense fighting, but that "the enemy did not have success" in any battles.

NBC has not independently verified the information.

— Natasha Turak

Artillery and infantry fighting are still centered in Ukraine's east, Kyiv officials say as Ukraine's long-awaited counter-offensive appears to get underway.

Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar named some of the most intense hotspots, writing on Telegram:

"The situation is tense in all areas of the frontline. The east is the epicentre. The enemy continues to concentrate its main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka directions."

Malyar did not detail activity in Ukraine's south, but Russian military officials reported heavy fighting in Ukraine's south in the Zaporizhzhia region and in Donetsk in the east.

— Natasha Turak

After the vast Soviet-era Kakhovka Dam crumbled on Tuesday — a human and ecological disaster which Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other — rubber dinghies have replaced cars in the town's streets.

Animals and people sheltered on roofs on Thursday: in one surreal scene a small group of goats and hens stood on what looked like part of a roof surrounded by floodwater as rescuers in dinghies passed by.

The first one or two storeys of houses and people's yards were underwater and an emerald green church was semi-submerged, with the tops of trees poking out from the water in places.

Rescuers in boats scoured the town for survivors, shouting out the addresses they had checked to one another.

— Reuters

NATO allies condemned Russia for its decision to withdraw from a key arms treaty enacted at the end of the Cold War that aimed to create a military balance between NATO and Warsaw Pact countries and lower weapons stocks.

In its statement, NATO called the landmark Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) "a cornerstone of Europe's security architecture," describing the treaty's role in establishing "legally binding and verifiable limits on key categories of conventional military equipment" for the countries involved.

"Russia has for many years not complied with its CFE obligations, in particular by ceasing its implementation of the CFE Treaty without a legal basis in 2007. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and Belarus' complicity, is contrary to the objectives of the CFE Treaty," NATO said.

It called Russia's pullout from the treaty "the latest in a series of actions that systematically undermines Euro-Atlantic security" and that it "further demonstrates Moscow's continued disregard for arms control, including reciprocity, transparency, compliance and verification."

— Natasha Turak

A drone strike hit the southern Russian city of Voronezh and three people were wounded, regional governor Alexander Gusev said.

Voronezh is roughly 110 miles from the Ukrainian border and is next to both the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia, both of which have seen shelling and drone strikes from pro-Ukrainian forces.

Gusev said that ten apartments were damaged when the purported drone strike hit a residential building. NBC has not independently verified the reports.

— Natasha Turak

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Japan is prepared to offer emergency humanitarian aid to Ukraine following the explosion of the Kakhovka dam and the massive flooding and damage it's caused.

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said his country would send some $5 million in aid to be allocated via humanitarian organizations, according to Reuters.

Zelenskyy also posted the readout of his phone conversation with Kishida, tweeting: "I spoke about the consequences of Russia blowing up the Kakhovka HPP. This is a deliberate act of terrorism and another war crime of Russia, which, in particular, threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP."

Zelenskyy said the two discussed "further involvement of Japan's security support, particularly in the area of humanitarian demining, and steps to implement the Ukrainian Peace Formula and prepare for the Global Peace Summit."

— Natasha Turak

Ukraine's domestic security service said it intercepted a phone call proving a Russian "sabotage group" blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in southern Ukraine.

It posted a recording of what it said was an intercepted telephone call on its official Telegram channel. The recording is presented as being between two unidentified Russian soldiers or officials with no indication of where or when the call purportedly took place.

While one of the men appears to claim a Russian sabotage group was responsible for attacking the dam, he offers no evidence in support. The recording has not been verified by CNBC.

The audio of the recorded is as follows, according to a translation by NBC:

-There was a video yesterday on Telegram: a soldier stands, his face is covered, and fully equipped. And tells that there is no flooding and that people live normal lives. But there is a window behind him and it is visible that the sea is up to a knee [means lots of water].

-Ah-ha… cool. Is it about HPP? HPP that was destroyed?

-Yes, yes.

-Ah, I see.

-The main issue is that as it turned out this HPP cools a reactor, their one, some atomic reactor.

-Well, great, screw up themselves. It will blow up and that's it!

-That's ours [Russian] to blew it up. It's not theirs [Ukrainians], it's ours did.

-No way, ours? It was said that khokhols [derogatory term for Ukrainians] blew it up.

-There wasn't a blow up. That was our sabotage group. They wanted, kind of to scare [blackmail] by the dam, but it went unplanned, more than they planned.

-Well, naturally, it will cover [affect] like in Chernobyl, right?

-The construction is from 50th [1950th]. Rapidly collapsed. There was a safari-park down there, thousands of animals died.

-Got it.

The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, was separately quoted in the Telegram post as saying: "We remind you that the Security Service of Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings on the fact of a war crime committed by the Russian Federation. By blowing up the Kakhovka HPP dam, the Russian Federation finally proved that it is a threat to the entire civilized world. After all, only a real terrorist state can arrange a man-made and ecological catastrophe of this level."

— Natasha Turak

The Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, an area of southeastern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, announced the formation of a militia via his Telegram account.

In a translation provided by The Guardian, the governor, Evgeny Balitsky, wrote: "In the Zaporizhzhia region, a people's militia has been created, which, together with the police and the military commandant's office, will take over patrolling and law enforcement in the settlements of the Zaporizhzhia region."

"Today, the first militias took the oath of allegiance to the Zaporizhzhia region and the inhabitants of our region," he added. "I am confident in the openness of the hearts of our countrymen, their steadfastness and desire to help."

— Natasha Turak

Ukraine's security service, the SBU, says it intercepted a call that proves Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine, which has caused enormous flooding and destruction on the surrounding area.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for the explosion. The dam, located on the Dnipro river, was in Russian-occupied territory. It was built in 1956 and provided water for the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station and irrigation, as well as water for cooling reactors at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The plant and the dam were both occupied by Russian forces shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

— Natasha Turak

The Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant, which sits on the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region, collapsed Tuesday, forcing downstream communities to evacuate due to the risk of flooding. The cause of the dam's collapse is not yet confirmed, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of its destruction.

The Dnipro river has served as a frontline between the warring armies following Russia's retreat from Kherson and surrounding areas last autumn. The dam and plant had been under the control of Russia, which occupies a swath of land south and southeast of the river.

-- Getty Images

A senior official and a soldier on the frontlines in Ukraine told NBC News that the long-awaited counteroffensive has begun. For weeks, Russian forces have braced for the new Ukrainian military push with Western allies declining to speculate on the timing of the counteroffensive.

The revelation comes on the heels of a catastrophic attack on the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine, which both Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for.

Read the full story from NBC News here.

— Amanda Macias

Heavy fighting underway in eastern Ukraine; Kyiv calls for help as first flood deaths reported