Ukraine and UN reach agreement for evacuation of people from occupied left-bank Kherson region if Russia provides access
Photo: open sources
On Thursday, June 8, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, held talks.
The UN will immediately form groups to provide humanitarian aid and evacuate people in the occupied territories of the Kherson region's left bank, occupied by Russia, if Russia provides access and security guarantees, Rubryka reports, citing Ukraine's Foreign Ministry.
The ministry reported that Ukraine and the UN talked about increasing aid from the UN to overcome the humanitarian consequences of Russia's terrorist act at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).
At the meeting, Kuleba noted the UN's humanitarian aid to the affected territories after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka HPP.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry stated that:
- The scale of destruction and suffering caused to citizens and animals requires a qualitatively different response;
- At the meeting, it was agreed that the UN would immediately increase the amount of aid and send additional forces to Kherson and other affected regions.
Kuleba assured the UN that Ukraine provides all UN security guarantees for humanitarian operations in the affected area. The UN would immediately form groups in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that would be sent to the affected occupied territories to provide humanitarian aid and evacuate people if safe passage to the occupied territories is ensured from the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine.
The UN and the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed that:
- UN units will go to the affected areas in the temporarily occupied territories from Ukrainian territories as soon as Russia provides access and security guarantees;
- The UN expects the Russian side to provide the specified guarantees and access to the occupied territories affected by the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP dam.
Earlier on Thursday, Kuleba expressed the expectation that after working with representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, members of these organizations will be deployed in the disaster zone after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka HPP.
The day before, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was shocked by the reaction of the UN and the Red Cross to the Russian occupiers' detonation of the Kakhovka HPP.
Zelensky stressed that even though the tragedy happened on the night of June 6, neither the UN nor the Red Cross "is not there." However, they "must be the first to save lives" since this is precisely what these organizations were created for.
Russians shoot at people trying to evacuate from flooded left-bank Kherson region – Rubryka
How Ukrainians rescue people and animals in flooded Kherson region: photo
Underwater: What is happening in flooded Kherson and how people and animals evacuate
Reference
Rubryka reported that three people died in flooding in the temporarily occupied Oleshky.
One person died in the Mykolaiv region due to flooding after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka hydroelectric station.
The Rubryka correspondent reported that the Russians were shooting at people trying to evacuate in the flooded left-bank Kherson region.
Meanwhile, the water level exceeded the historical maximum in Mykolaiv and the region. Due to the disaster, the Kinburn Spit was cut off from the mainland.
