Ukrainian canal supplying drinking water to Crimea dries up after dam explosion

A resident near Zaporozhye inspects a sunken barge after a sharp drop in the water level after the collapse of the New Kakhovka dam Photo: Alina Smutko/Reuters

According to UN, Some 700,000 people living in southern Ukraine's Kherson region are now in urgent need of access to drinking water following a major dam failure this week.

Western intelligence officials said that following its dam failure, Tuesday dried up a canal that supplies occupied Crimea with fresh water.

Warnings come as the Ukrainian army advances a counter-offensive aimed at reclaiming Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the collapse of the dam triggered an «extraordinary» humanitarian crisis that forced thousands of people from their homes and destroyed vital infrastructure.

«Your there is a huge, looming problem of lack of proper drinking water for these 700,000 people,” he told US media.North Crimean Canal in the Kherson region. Photo: igorbondarenko/iStockphoto

Mr Griffiths said he expected the spread of water-borne diseases and that the flooding would exacerbate the global grain shortage caused by the war.

“ The truth is that this is only the beginning of the manifestation of the consequences of this act,” he said.

Ukraine accused the Kremlin of destroying the dam. The Kremlin denies this.

The lack of water in the Kakhovka reservoir will also hit Crimea, because most of the water flows from the reservoir into the 250-mile Soviet canal. > North Crimean canal with low water levels Photo: Pierre Crome/Getty

Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea have said that water is still flowing through the canal and that the region has sufficient supplies, but the British Ministry of Defense has said that the water level in the reservoir has now fallen below the level of the entrance that feeds the canal.

“The Russian authorities are likely to meet the urgent needs of the population in water using reservoirs, water rationing, drilling new wells and shipping bottled water from Russia,” the message says intelligence.

Three people were killed and 10 others were injured when Russia fired on a rescue boat that was evacuating people after the accident. floods, regional authorities said on Sunday.

“Three civilians were killed and 10 more were injured, including two law enforcement officers,” Kherson Region Governor Alexander Prokudin said.