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Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis ‘hugely worse’ after Kakhovka dam rupture, says UN aid chief
UN’s top aid official Martin Griffiths has warned Ukraine faces a “hugely worse” humanitarian situation than before after the collapse of the Kakhova dam.
This is a viral problem. The truth is this is only the beginning of seeing the consequences of this act.
Griffiths says an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and the flooding of agricultural land in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will cause a “cascade of problems”, including lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need.
Working mainly through Ukrainian aid groups, the UN has reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control. Griffiths said he met with Russia’s UN ambassador for access to Russian-controlled areas in order to help flood victims.
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- 7m agoUkraine’s humanitarian crisis ‘hugely worse’ after Kakhovka dam rupture, says UN aid chief
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, I’m Yang Tian bringing you the latest.
UN’s top aid official warns Ukraine’s humanitarian situation has been made “hugely worse” with the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
Martin Griffiths said an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and flooding in one of the word’s critical breadbaskets could lead to lower grain exports and less food for millions in need.
More details shortly, in other key developments:
Hungary said on Friday it had received a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia, a release that Ukraine welcomed while expressing concern that it had not been informed.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Joe Biden for his $2.1bn (£1.6bn) security assistance package. In a tweet, Zelenskiy said the contribution is “more important than ever” since the Kakhovka dam collapse.
The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, told Zelenskiy on Friday that Japan will offer emergency humanitarian aid worth about $5m (£3.9m) after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a Japanese government spokesperson has said.
Ukraine’s domestic Security Service (SBU) said on Friday it had intercepted a telephone call proving a Russian “sabotage group” blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in southern Ukraine. A one-and-a-half minute audio clip on its Telegram channel of the alleged conversation featured two unidentified men who appeared to be discussing the fallout from the disaster in Russian. One of the men said “Our saboteur group is there. They wanted to cause fear with this dam. It did not go according to the plan. More than they planned.”
The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukrainian forces of killing civilian victims of flooding caused by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine in repeated shelling attacks, including one pregnant woman. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the purported attacks “barbaric”. Russia did not provide any evidence to back up its claims.
Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said on Friday that Crimea’s water supply will not be affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, and the peninsula had enough water reserves for 500 days. A canal from the destroyed reservoir fed drinking water to the peninsula. Kyiv cut access to the canal in 2014, after Russia illegally seized Crimea and claimed to annex it.
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The post Russia-Ukraine war live: humanitarian crisis ‘hugely worse’ after Kakhovka dam collapse, says UN aid chief appeared first on The Guardian.
