Powerless U.N. Complains Russia Ignores Its Requests to Aid Dam Victims

A frustrated and powerless United Nations complained Monday that Moscow is allegedly denying its aid workers access to Russian-occupied areas affected by the recent Kakhova hydroelectric dam collapse in southern Ukraine.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement the organization has sought to engage Moscow and Kyiv, each of which occupies parts of the southern Kherson region where the dam and reservoir are located, to address the “devastating destruction” caused by the breach.

The Russian government “has so far declined our request to access the areas under its temporary military control,” Brown lamented, UPI reports.

“We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” her statement added, before outlining: “Aid cannot be denied to people who need it.

“The U.N. will continue to do all it can to reach all people — including those suffering as a result of the recent dam destruction — who urgently need life-saving assistance, no matter where they are.”

The accusation comes after the U.N. on Friday said hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine have been affected by water shortages due to the dam breach.

WATCH: Who Did It? Ukrainians Evacuated from Kherson After Flood from Major Dam Breach

Kherson OVA via Storyful, Suspilne News via Storyful

Saviano Abreu, head of communications for U.N. aid coordination Office, said they calculate that 200,000 people in the Dnipro region alone have been cut off from water from their houses.

That number could rise to higher than 700,000 as the reservoir was the main water source for a large swath of southern Ukraine.

The hydroelectric dam in Russia-occupied Kakhovka in southern Ukraine collapsed June 6 as a result of an explosion. Subsequent flooding of dozens of towns and villages has created an environmental disaster and a climbing death toll along the Dnipro River.

Russia has denied any involvement in the dam wall breach which Kyiv has already labelled a war crime.

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