The day after the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam, near Kherson in Ukraine, the UN reacted. It is “a new devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, said Wednesday, June 7 its secretary general, Antonio Guterres. During an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday afternoon, the UN chief for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, described to him a disaster whose “the extent can only be fully assessed in the coming days” but whose consequences will be “serious and far-reaching”. Follow our live.
• Mass evacuations by bus and train continue. “The most difficult situation is taking place in Korabelny district of Kherson city. So far the water level has risen by 3.5 meters, more than 1,000 houses are flooded,” in this city taken over from the Russians by the Ukrainians in November 2022, said in a press release the deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksii Kouléba.
The partial destruction of the dam will not affect kyiv’s counter-offensive. “The world must react”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched on Tuesday. Despite the damage, “the explosion of the dam did not affect Ukraine’s ability to liberate its own territories”said the head of state on Telegram, after a meeting with his staff. “Readiness [des troupes] is maximal”he added.
kyiv and Moscow accuse each other. Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of having “detonated a bomb” on the dam. For kyiv, the Russians did this in order to “to curb” the offensive of his army. Moscow denies, and claims that Ukraine has committed a “deliberate sabotage”.
The UN is concerned about the consequences for the environment. The UN humanitarian agency has warned that the destruction of the dam could cause an environmental disaster and “to have a severe impact on hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the front line”.