MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia’s decision to decline U.N. help in areas of Russian-held Ukraine flooded by the Kakhovka dam breach was motivated by security concerns and “other nuances”.
The United Nations said on Sunday that Moscow had declined its offers of help as the death toll rose and filthy water forced the closure of beaches in southern Ukraine.
The collapse of the Moscow-controlled dam on June 6 unleashed floodwaters across southern Ukraine and Russian-controlled parts of the Kherson region, destroying homes and farmland, and cutting off supplies to residents.
“There are a lot of issues there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked why Moscow had declined U.N. assistance.
“How to cross where the line of contact is (between Russian and Ukrainian forces) and ensuring security – you know that there is constant shelling there, constant provocations, civilian objects and people are being shelled, people are dying,” he said.
“That is why it is very difficult here, it is very difficult to provide security for them. And there are many other nuances,” he added.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
