The humanitarian situation in Ukraine has deteriorated significantly following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, according to the senior UN aid official.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths said an unprecedented 700,000 people are now facing severe shortages of safe drinking water. Griffiths also warned that the devastating impact of the floods in Ukraine, one of the world’s major food-producing regions, will inevitably lead to reduced grain exports, driving up global food prices and exacerbating the hunger crisis. for millions of people in need.
The Kakhovka dam, the southernmost dam on the Dnipro River, was destroyed on June 6, allowing more than 18 square kilometers of water to flow at once, flooding towns and villages and creating threats humanitarian, nuclear, ecological, economic and others. to Ukraine.
Many experts have pointed out that the deliberate destruction of vital infrastructure like the Kakhovka Dam aligns with Russian escalation management strategy and doctrine of war.
Griffiths said the United Nations, working mostly through Ukrainian aid groups, reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control. He said Russia has yet to give access to areas it controls to the UN to help flood victims.
Griffiths said that because of the large-scale consequences “it’s almost inevitable” that the United Nations will issue a special appeal for more aid funds for Ukraine to deal with “a whole new order of magnitude” following to the destruction of the dam.
Nearly 80 settlements flooded, thousands evacuated after destruction of Kakhovka dam
Seventy-seven settlements were flooded in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam. Three thousand six hundred and eighty-one people have been evacuated from the flooded areas, while 29 are currently missing.
Kyiv Independent Press Office
