Wartime fears closed the Ukrainian city’s famed beaches last year, but crowds were starting to return — until the destruction of a faraway dam dumped debris and dangers into the Black Sea.
Military analysts and U.S. officials said it was too soon to judge the success of Ukraine’s offensive, which is looking for weaknesses to exploit, in the face of fierce resistance.
“We were getting used to the shelling, but I’ve never seen a situation like this,” said one woman rescued in Kherson after a dam upstream was destroyed.