Ukraine's humanitarian crisis is "hugely worse" since the Kakhovka dam broke, the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, told the Guardian.
Ukraine, the senior official stressed, is facing a humanitarian situation "enormously worse" than in the past after the collapse of the dam. Griffiths commented that 700,000 people need clean water and that flooding farmland in one of the world's most important 'granaries' will cause a "cascade of problems", including reduced grain exports, rising global food prices and reduced food availability for millions of people most in need. So far, he said, together with Ukrainian NGOs, the United Nations has reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control. Griffiths said he met with Russia's ambassador to the United Nations to gain access to Russian-controlled areas in order to help those affected by the floods.