Russia reports intensified fighting in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

Fighting has intensified between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region amid speculations that it is a possible prelude to the expected offensive by Kiev. 

Russian officials on Friday cited "active combat" ongoing in the region between Orekhovo and Tokmak

Ukraine has offered no confirmation, but its forces bolstered by Western weapons and training have been expected for months to launch a counteroffensive.

The conflict comes as the human and environmental costs rise after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and devastating floods in another part of southern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military said in a Facebook post that "the enemy is on the defensive" in Zaporizhzhia.

It said it had destroyed four missiles and 10 drones out of 20 that Russia had fired at "military installations and critical infrastructure".

Ukraine and Russia blame each other for Kakhovka dam explosion

Kiev blames Moscow for the Kakhovka dam explosion on the Dnipro River; however, Moscow says western countries have a habit of linking negative incidents to Russia.

The local governor of Russia said a drone crashed into a residential building in the city of Voronezh in the south of Russia and two people were injured.

Alexander Gusev, the governor of the region, said in Telegram that the drone crashed on Belinsky Street in Voronezh, 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. 

Russian state media showed images of a building with broken windows and a blackened section of wall, apparently hit by a drone.

Drone strikes have frequently hit Russian cities - including Moscow - in recent months. It is the first such incident in Voronezh, a city of about one million people.

Russia tells UN court Ukraine shelled Kherson dam

Currently, nearly 42,000 people are reportedly at risk of being affected by the flooding.

Belgorod region, which borders Voronezh region, has been heavily shelled this month, forcing thousands of people to flee the border towns.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the bursting of the Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which sent waters cascading across the war zone of southern Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday.

It forced thousands to flee their homes as water surged into the Dnipro River, flooding dozens of villages and parts of the regional capital Kherson.

A total of 600 square kilometers of the Kherson region is underwater, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on social media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denounced the attack on the dam as a ''barbaric act that led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian catastrophe."

Currently, nearly 42,000 people are reportedly at risk of being affected by the flooding in Russian and Ukrainian-controlled areas along the Dnipro River.

Ukraine also blamed Russia for the dam's destruction, describing it as the result of a "Russian act of terrorism."

Russian authorities in Kherson on Friday reported eight deaths from the flood and said the water could keep rising for more than a week

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