United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said it’s going to take “a little bit of time” to see the extent of environmental damage after the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed earlier this week.
Therefore, it’s also going to take time to assess the damage to “people’s lives and livelihoods”, Griffiths told Al Jazeera.
“But we all know … this is an absolute calamity,” he said, describing the reservoir as a “bread basket” that was important for the livelihoods of people living in southern Ukraine.
“We’ve now reached 30,000 people with humanitarian assistance. That’s a start, but I understand the frustration of the people of Ukraine when they see these events happening and they need help,” Griffiths said.
“We’re doing the best we can to reach them … What we need to prepare for [the long term], is the water supply problem,” he said.
Other long-term issues may include the spread of diseases, as well as environmental damage, he added.
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour to support war effort
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour for the second straight summer, appearing in eight cities in Europe and UK in support of the nation’s war effort against Russia.
Keri-Lynn Wilson, the Canadian-Ukrainian wife of Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb, will conduct the tour, which runs from August 20 to September 3 and is being produced by the Met and the Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera. The August 24 concert at Berlin’s Schönhausen Palace coincides with Ukrainian Independence Day and will be a free outdoor performance.
“Putin and the Russian propaganda machine have kind of weaponised culture and it’s very important for Ukraine to mount its own cultural defence,” Gelb, referring to the Russian president. “Ukrainian people need to be bolstered. They’ve been battered and their morale needs to be lifted.”
Musicians include members of the Kyiv National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Kharkiv Opera. Wilson said all but a dozen of the 74 musicians are holdovers from last summer.
The United Nations has helped boost Russian exports of food and fertilisers, facilitating a steady flow of ships to its ports and lower freight and insurance rates, a UN spokesman has said after UN and Russian officials discussed the efforts.
Top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan met Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin in Geneva as Moscow threatens to walk away from a deal allowing the safe export of food and fertiliser from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on July 17 if obstacles to its own such shipments are not removed.
To convince Moscow to agree to the pact known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a three-year agreement was struck at the same time under which UN officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertiliser exports.
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