Footage shows thick black smoke billowing from the facility.

Entire villages in southern Ukraine were flooded after the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river burst on Tuesday. One of the river’s tributaries, the Inhoulets, burst its banks, flooding fields and villages situated more than 50 kilometres north of Kherson. FRANCE 24’s correspondent Gulliver Cragg toured part of the stricken area with the head of the Snihurivka military administration – the wartime equivalent of a mayor.

The UK’s foreign secretary said: ‘We will continue backing you and your country until you are victorious in your self-defence.’

UK pledges hundreds of new attack drones to Ukraine ahead of Zelensky’s surprise UK visit …

President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise trip to Paris after travelling to Germany.

The Ukrainian president leaving from the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany (Picture: Shutterstock)

Volodymyr Zelensky will make a surprise visit to Britain today for a meeting with Rishi Sunak.

London will be the latest stop on his tour of European capitals after the president travelled to Paris for an audience with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine’s leader said he will ‘meet my friend Rishi’ and conduct what he described as ‘substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations’.

A statement on Twitter this morning read: ‘Today – London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air.

‘This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.’

Today – London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 15, 2023

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