Ukraine and Russia blame each other for dam collapse at the United Nations

The 15-member United Nations Security Council met Tuesday at the request of both Russia and Ukraine after a flood of water breached a major dam on the Dnipro River, which has been the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the conflict.

at the united nations ukraine and russia take advantage of each other in the picture 1 — Satellite image of the broken dam. Photo: Maxar

Asked if the US knew who was responsible, the US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, told reporters ahead of the council meeting: "We are not at all certain, we hope to have more information in the coming days."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier on Tuesday that the world body did not have any independent information about how the dam collapsed, but described it as “another devastating consequence” of the fighting.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia blamed Ukraine, accusing it of trying to create a "favourable opportunity" to gather military units for a counter-offensive.

“The deliberate sabotage carried out by Kiev against a critical infrastructure facility is extremely dangerous and can essentially be classified as a war crime or an act of terrorism,” Mr Nebenzia told the Council.

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Russia of "terrorist acts against Ukraine's critical infrastructure". "It is physically impossible to blow it up from the outside by shelling - it was mined by the Russian occupiers and they blew it up," he said.

The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, told the Security Council that "the full extent of the disaster will only be fully realised in the coming days".

“But it is clear that it will have serious and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine on both sides of the conflict, losing their homes, food, clean water and livelihoods,” he added.

Meanwhile, satellite imagery taken by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday afternoon showed widespread flooding in southern Ukraine with the Nova Kahkovka dam and the region's hydroelectric power plant largely destroyed.

Maxar said images of more than 2,500 square kilometers between Nova Kakhovka and Dniprovska Bay southwest of the Black Sea city of Kherson showed many towns and villages were flooded.

Hoang Anh (according to TASS, Reuters)

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