Ukraine hopes the level of floodwater from the destruction of its vast Kakhovka dam will stop rising by the end of Wednesday after reaching around five metres overnight, the Ukrainian president's deputy chief of staff said.

The official, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on television that 2,000 people had been evacuated so far and that the water level had reached its highest level in 17 settlements with a combined population of 16,000 people. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Timothy Heritage)