UN: 700,000 lack access to drinking water following Kakhovka Dam destruction.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine has significantly deteriorated following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, according to the United Nations' top aid official.   In an interview[1] with The Associated Press, undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths said that an unprecedented 700,000 people are now facing a dire shortage of drinking water. Griffiths also warned that the devastating impact of the flooding in Ukraine, one of the world's key food-producing regions, will inevitably result in reduced grain exports, leading to higher global food prices and exacerbating the hunger crisis for millions in need.

The Kakhovka Dam, the southern-most dam across the Dnipro River was destroyed on June 6, allowing over 18 square kilometers of water to sweep downstream all at once, flooding towns and cities, and creating humanitarian, nuclear, ecological, economic and other threats to Ukraine. Numerous experts pointed out[2] that the deliberate destruction of vital infrastructure like the Kakhovka Dam aligns with Russia's strategy of escalation management and warfighting doctrine. Griffiths said the United Nations, working mainly through Ukrainian aid groups, has reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control.

He said that Russia has not yet given access to areas it controls for the U.N. to help flood victims. Griffiths said that because of the wide-ranging consequences "it's almost inevitable" that the United Nations will launch a special appeal for more aid funds for Ukraine to deal with "a whole new order of magnitude" following the destruction of the dam.

Nearly 80 settlements flooded, thousands of people evacuated after Kakhovka Dam destruction Seventy-seven settlements were flooded in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka Dam.

Three thousand six hundred eighty-one people were evacuated from the flooded areas, while 29 are currently missing.

Development manager, Canadian correspondent

Olena Goncharova is a development manager and Canadian correspondent for the Kyiv Independent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper's Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Olena has a master's degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

References

1. ^ interview (apnews.com)
2. ^ pointed out (thehill.com)
3. ^ Nearly 80 settlements flooded, thousands of people evacuated after Kakhovka Dam destructionSeventy-seven settlements were flooded in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka Dam.

   Three thousand six hundred eighty-one people were evacuated from the flooded areas, while 29 are currently missing. (kyivindependent.com)