2023-06-21 09:55:56
Ukraine floods: death toll rises to 41 in areas controlled by Moscow
A member of the Russian Student Relief Corps pumps water from the basement of an apartment building in the town of Hola Prystan in the Kherson region in a Russian-controlled area on June 17, 2023 ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS
Russia has raised the death toll from floods in areas it controls in southern Ukraine following the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper River on June 6.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has risen to 41”said the head of the Russian occupation in the Kherson region, Andrei Alekseyenko. A previous report communicated on Saturday by the authorities installed by Russia reported 29 dead.
Hundreds of square kilometers downstream were flooded by the destruction of the dam, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and raising fears of both a humanitarian and environmental disaster.
The Kremlin said on Monday it had withheld United Nations aid to areas flooded by the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine due to security concerns. “There are a lot of problems there”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked why Moscow had refused United Nations (UN) aid. “How to cross the line of contact [entre les forces russes et ukrainiennes] and providing security – you know there is constant shelling, constant provocations, civilian objects and people are being bombed, people are dying”did he declare. “That is why it is very difficult here to ensure their safety. And there are many other nuances”he added.
Photo taken by a drone and provided by the Ukrainian army, dated May 28, shows a car on the Kakhovka dam which appears to be loaded with explosives. PA
If Moscow and kyiv reject the responsibility for this destruction, Russia had the means, the motive and the opportunity to destroy the dam, reports the news agency Associated Press (AP). Drone footage of the Kakhovka dam shared with AP shows a car loaded with explosives at the structure. According to New York Timeswhich is based on the analysis of seismic and satellite detections of the explosions in the area, Russia would have detonated the barrage which was designed to withstand almost any imaginable attack from the outside using a placed charge inside a maintenance gallery located below the water level.
#protect #Crimea #Russia #establishes #defensive #zone #north #Armyansk