France to send aid to Ukraine after dam breach displaces residents, threatens water supplies

France is sending immediate aid to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which caused flooding, forcing people to spend the night on roofs and trees, and cut off drinking water and irrigation for tens of thousands of people in the Russian-controlled Kherson region.

Flooded streets in Kherson, Ukraine, 7 June 2023, after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River. © Libkos/AP

Following a phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was sending “aid to meet immediate needs”, calling the destruction of the damn an “atrocious act, which is endangering populations”.

Zelensky told Macron of the environmental and humanitarian consequences of breach of the hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River in Ukraine's Kherson region now held by Russia, which was ripped open early Tuesday after a reported blast.

Flood waters forced people to spend the night on roofs and trees.

Tens of thousands affected

Flooding was expected to peak on Wednesday. The Ukrainian government estimated that around 42,000 people would be directly impacted and hundreds and thousands would be left without access to drinking water, with irrigation severely hampered.

The French foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that it would be sending a dozen tonnes of emergency products and equipment, including water purifiers, hygiene kits and 500,000 water purification pills.

Macron’s office said that in a phone call with UN chief Antonio Guterres, he asked for aid for the Ukrainian population affected by the floods living in areas controlled by the Russian army.

Trading blame

Ukraine and Russia have been accusing each other for the breach.

"We discussed the possibility of using international mechanisms to investigate its causes," Zelensky said about his conversation with Macron, on Twitter.

The Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, in his first public comments since the breach, told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that the breach was "a barbaric act which has led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian catastrophe".

(with newswires)