Kherson is hit by Russian shelling hours after visiting Zelensky.

Russian forces shelled the flood-ravaged city of Kherson on Thursday and slammed close to an evacuation point, just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the city to witness the aftermath of the destruction of a dam on the Dnipro River earlier this week.

Hundreds of people gathered at an evacuation point in Ship Square, in the heart of the city, took cover when explosions rang out, witnesses said, describing multiple attacks in and around the square.

Volunteers, medics, first responders and rescue teams involved in coordinating relief efforts have met on elevated ground near the square, which itself is flooded but is used as an evacuation point as it is a well-known landmark.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said eight people were injured in the shelling near Ship Square, including two State Emergency Service employees and a police officer. “Information about the dead has not yet been received,” it added.

The explosions were around 2 p.m. local time. “Get out, get out,” a man shouted, according to a witness, and people tried to find shelter. A young man bandaged an elderly man’s injured head, with blood dripping down his arm as he tried to utter words of comfort, witnesses said.

Serhiy Ludensky, an animal care volunteer, was on a boat near Ship Square when shelling hit a nearby building, he said. He said he could hear people screaming. “There was no place to hide,” he said. The people on the boat managed to break open the door of a flooded dormitory to wait for the explosions to stop.

It was one of several areas in the city of Kherson targeted by Russian forces on Thursday, according to Ukrainian officials and witnesses.

A New York Times photographer was on a boat in the city’s flooded Korabel neighborhood when he saw at least two shelling nearby, about 10 minutes apart. The second attack hit a barge near a bridge connecting the island district to the mainland.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other’s forces of shelling areas in the Kherson region as rescue operations entered a third day on Thursday.

Brendan Hoffman reporting contributed.