UN says Russia refuses to allow help in for flooded areas after Ukraine dam burst

NEW YORK – The United Nations said on Sunday that Moscow had declined its requests to help residents of Russian-controlled areas of southern Ukraine affected by

the breach of the

Kakhovka 

dam,

and vowed to press on with humanitarian efforts.

The bursting of the dam on a hydroelectric station

has flooded vast areas and created difficult conditions for thousands made homeless or without vital services.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, writing on Facebook, put the death toll from the dam’s destruction at 17, with 31 still missing. He said nearly 900 homes remained under water and more than 3,600 people had been evacuated.

The UN statement, issued by its humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Ms Denise Brown, said the world body “will continue to engage to seek the necessary access”.

“We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law. Aid cannot be denied to people who need it.”

On Monday, the Kremlin said Russia’s decision to decline UN help in areas of Russian-held Ukraine flooded by the Kakhovka dam breach was motivated by security concerns and “other nuances”.

“There are a lot of issues there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked why Moscow had declined UN assistance. “How to cross where the line of contact is (between Russian and Ukrainian forces) and ensuring security – you know that there is constant shelling there, constant provocations, civilian objects and people are being shelled, people are dying.”

“That is why it is very difficult here, it is very difficult to provide security for them. And there are many other nuances,” he added.

Ukraine and Russia

blame each other for the breach

.

Parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region, seized by Russian troops in the

first days of the February 2022 invasion

, remain under Russian control. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russia of failing to evacuate or provide for the elementary needs of those in Moscow-controlled areas.

Kyiv reported at least one incident of Russian shelling of residents being evacuated, in which three people were killed.

Mr Andrei Alekseyenko, chairman of the Russian-installed administration in the Moscow-occupied parts of Kherson region, said on the Telegram messaging app that the death toll had risen to 29.

A team of international legal experts assisting Ukraine’s prosecutors in their investigation said in preliminary findings on Friday that it was “highly likely” the destruction of the dam was caused by explosives planted by Russians.

The Kremlin has accused Kyiv of sabotaging the hydroelectric dam, which held a reservoir the size of the United States’ Great Salt Lake, to cut off a key source of water for Crimea and distract attention from a “faltering” counter-offensive against Russian forces. REUTERS