The United Nations responded the day after the partial destruction of the Kakhovka Dam near Kherson, Ukraine. It was “a new devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” declared Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, June 7th. During an emergency Security Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the UN chief for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, described a disaster “the extent of which can only be fully appreciated in the coming days” but whose consequences will be “serious and far-reaching”. . Follow our live.
• The mass evacuations by bus and train continue. “The most difficult situation is in the Korabelny district of the city of Kherson. So far, the water level has risen by 3.5 meters, more than 1,000 houses are flooded”, in this city, which was taken over from the Russians by the Ukrainians in November 2022, the deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksii Kouléba, explained in a press release .
Partial destruction of the dam will not affect Kiev’s counteroffensive. “The world must react,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday. Despite the damage, “the dam explosion did not affect Ukraine’s ability to liberate its own territories,” the head of state told Telegram after a meeting with his staff. “Standby [des troupes] is maximum,” he added.
Kyiv and Moscow blame each other. Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “detonating a bomb” on the dam. For Kiev, the Russians acted in this way to contain his army’s offensive. Moscow denies this, claiming that Ukraine committed “deliberate sabotage”.
The UN is concerned about the consequences for the environment. The United Nations Humanitarian Agency warned that the destruction of the dam could trigger an environmental catastrophe and “have a serious impact on hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the frontline”.