Ukraine: Footage from the destruction at Kakhovka dam

Britons have been warned the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, part of a hydroelectric power plant, will likely have costly repercussions for the UK. The breach of the dam, which happened in the early hours of June 6, has caused the large reservoir to empty and has flooded dozens of towns and settlements downstream.

Large areas relying on the water from the reservoir, on the other hand, will now struggle to irrigate the crops.

The United Nations aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said the whole world is set to feel the consequences of this disaster.

Global food security and prices will likely be impacted, he explained as he told the BBC: “This is a breadbasket – that whole area going down towards the Black Sea and Crimea is a breadbasket not only for Ukraine but also for the world.

“We’re in difficulties already on food security but food prices, I’m sure, are bound to increase.

“It is almost inevitable that we are going to see huge, huge problems in harvesting and sowing for the next harvest.

“And so what we are going to see is a huge impact on global food security – that’s what’s going to happen.”

Ukraine and Russia are key in producing agricultural products and together account for around 30 per cent of worldwide wheat exports alone.

While the UK doesn’t rely massively on either Ukraine or Russia for wheat for human consumption, last summer the UK Flour Millers association acknowledged there had been a sharp jump in market prices, not just due to the war but also to relatively poor harvests in 2021.

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The statement said: “It is inevitable that in time they will feed through in increased consumer prices for a range of foodstuffs that depend on grain as a key input.

“These include items like bread but also a range of other foods such as eggs, meat and more.

“This is likely to lead to a higher level of UK food price inflation, sustained over a longer period than had already been anticipated.”

The ONS said in 2021, prior to the war, Britain imported £200million of food and live animals from Ukraine, accounting for 0.5 per cent of all imports of this commodity. This primarily included imports of cereals such as wheat, maize, barley, and rice.

The UK also imported £140 million of vegetable oils and fats in 2021, accounting for 11.3 per cent of all imports of this commodity.

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The UN chief also warned the destruction of the dam will threaten access to drinking water for thousands of people.

Without clean water, Mr Griffiths said, people and in particular children would be susceptible to disease.

It is not yet clear who or what provoked the bursting of the dam, bur Mr Griffiths said that, whoever did it, “breached the Geneva convention”, which bar even during conflict damage of this scale to civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine claims to have proof, in the form of an audio clip, Russians mined the dam, while Moscow said to be innocent and accused in turn Kyiv of the destruction of the dam.

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