The United Nations is prepared to dispatch a special mission to assist the victims of the Kakhovka dam breach on the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast, occupied by Russia. The mission awaits safety guarantees from Russia, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced during the national newscast.
He revealed that both the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have already begun to provide humanitarian aid to the affected population on the west (right) bank of Kherson Oblast, controlled by Ukraine. However, the UN’s mission, ready to head to the left bank of the Dnipro, is awaiting safety guarantees from Russia.
Kuleba stated, “According to our agreement, which we reached last Thursday with the UN… such a mission is formed, they have sent a request for safety guarantees to Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine has immediately provided such guarantees. Russia has not yet provided a response.”
Kuleba also informed that supplies from 12 out of the 19 countries which pledged aid to Ukraine in the wake of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station explosion have already been delivered to the country.
According to Ukrainian official data, 32 settlements were flooded on the Ukrainian-controlled territory of Kherson Oblast and 14 on the Russian-occupied part. 2,699 people have been evacuated, at least five were killed, and 29 are missing. In the neighboring Mykolaiv Oblast, 31 settlements were flooded, and 982 people were evacuated.
18 cubic kilometers of water gushed out of the dam of the destroyed Kakhovka Hydropower Plant when a blast breached it on the night of 6 June, flooding the towns in the delta of the Dnipro.
Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam from within, a statement supported by seismic stations registering the explosion, earwitnesses hearing it, Russian soldiers telling about it, and engineers telling it is the only possible way to destroy such a sturdy construction.
Related:
- Earwitnesses recall hearing explosions on night when Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed
- Seismic signals indicate Kakhovka dam explosion – NORSAR
- Russian sabotage group blew up Kakhovka dam; it didn’t go as planned, SBU intercept alleges
- Kakhovka Dam was built to withstand nuclear strike, couldn’t be destroyed from outside – Ukrhydroproject engineering company
