With Kherson Dam’s Destruction, Plight of Ukraine’s People Will Only Get Worse, Emergency Relief Coordinator Warns Security Council, un.org

The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in Kherson — the most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure since the start of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine — will have grave and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator warned the Security Council today, as he updated the 15-member organ on the Organization’s response efforts. […]

Building on that call, the representative of China highlighted that no one is immune in the event of a nuclear disaster.  In that regard, there must be maximum restraint to avoid any escalation and miscalculation.  “As the flames of war rage on, it will only bring about greater suffering and more disasters, creating more risks that are grave and impossible to predict,” he cautioned, urging parties to resume peace talks as soon as possible.

France’s delegate, however, pointed out that none of this would have occurred if the Russian Federation had not invaded Ukraine and if it had upheld the Charter of the United Nations.  The only way to avoid other disasters of this kind is if Moscow withdraws its armed forms. More so, that Government will have to be held accountable for the crimes it committed in Ukraine and pay for Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction, he declared.[…]

Addressing the West directly, the Russian Federation’s representative said that “hiding behind the dysfunctional Kyiv regime will not work”, as Moscow “understand[s] perfectly well who actually plans, prepares and authorizes sabotage of this magnitude”.  It was Kyiv — with a sense of complete impunity and the encouragement of Western curators — who committed an unthinkable crime to inflict maximum humanitarian damage, he asserted.  The use of such terrorist methods has become that State’s official tactic.

Countering that, the representative of Ukraine pointed out that it is physically impossible to blow up the dam from the outside through shelling.  As such, it is the Russian Federation — having controlled the dam for more than a year — who planned a terrorist attack against Ukrainian critical infrastructure well in advance.  That State will have to compensate for all the consequences of its crime on people, infrastructure and the environment, he underscored, as he urged the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other international organizations to send humanitarian assistance. Läs referatet