The Kremlin has responded to a UN criticism over Russia's failure to allow aid access to flood-affected parts of southern Ukraine by citing security and "a lot of issues" and "many other nuances," as the humanitarian effects of a breached dam compound fighting amid the 15-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian regions continue to battle the devastating effects of the breach of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River on June 6 that killed dozens of people, with dozens more still missing. The dam and its immediate surroundings have been under Russian control since early in the invasion.
The United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, complained late on June 18 that the Russian government "has so far declined our request to access the areas under its temporary military control" in the affected regions but that the UN would "continue to engage to seek the necessary access."
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
"We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law," Brown said. "Aid cannot be denied to people who need it."
In addition to the flooding of dozens of communities and thousands of homes, the dam's demise cut off power supplies and access to potable water, as well as ruining crops and causing a widespread environmental disaster.
"There are a lot of issues there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the UN complaint, according to Reuters.
"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," Peskov said.
"That is why it is very difficult here, it is very difficult to provide security for them. And there are many other nuances," the agency quoted him as saying.
The UN nuclear watchdog said on June 16 after a visit by its chief to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine that it was unclear whether water from the Kakhovka dam's reservoir can still be pumped to the plant.
There are indications that some water from the Kakhovka dam's reservoir remains available, but it is unclear if the level is high enough to pump it for use at the plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on June 16 in a statement.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko on June 19 said that 18 people were known to have died in the destruction of the dam -- 14 from drowning and four from gunshot wounds during the evacuation. The number of people missing is 31 and the search for them is ongoing, he said.
More than 3,700 people and more than 280 animals have been evacuated from the flooded areas in the Kherson and Mykolayiv regions, Klymenko said, adding that the water continued to recede, but 39 settlements and 818 houses are still flooded.
Rescuers with the State Emergency Service, policemen, guardsmen, community services personnel, and volunteers continue their work, Klymenko said.
"Despite enemy shelling, we continue to work. We are delivering water, restoring communication, [and] rescuing people," he said.
Officials in territories occupied by Moscow reported 29 people dead as the result of the flooding.
The New York Times cited evidence suggesting the destruction of the huge Kakhovka dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine resulted from an inside explosion set off by Russia, which has controlled the dam and surrounding area since early in the conflict.