The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers authorized this past Tuesday the agreement that takes into account the declaration of emergency for the contracting of humanitarian aid, for a maximum amount of 100,000 euros, to the population affected by the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, in Ukraine.
On June 6, a Russian attack destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam, located in southern Ukraine. It is estimated that, as a consequence of the damage caused to the infrastructure, more than 540 square kilometers of land and more than 20 settlements with around 850 homes have been flooded, and around 40,000 people have been affected. In Kherson, some 60 kilometers downstream of the dam, around 30,000 people are without a centralized drinking water supply and 170,000 people have been left without a centralized sanitation supply.
Faced with this situation, Ukraine requested on June 6, through the European Mechanism for European Civil Protection, help to face this new humanitarian crisis by donating goods to meet urgent needs: basic necessities, sanitary products and medicines, material for purifying water, blankets, tents, among others.
The humanitarian aid from the AECID has consisted of sending, by land, two trucks with 3,000 blankets, 1,848 family hygiene kits and chlorine tablets to make the water drinkable. The total amount of the action has risen to 75,428.40 euros, with a maximum budget of 100,000 euros.
On June 21, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced during his speech by videoconference at the second International Conference on the Recovery of Ukraine (UCR 2023), held in London, that Spain would send 24 tons of humanitarian aid to assist those affected by the bombing of the Kakhovka dam (specifically, water, sanitation and hygiene material and shelter that will be distributed in Ukraine over the next few days in collaboration with the European Civil Protection Mechanism, according to the AECID) and that Spanish companies were willing to “contribute their experience” in matters such as water and sanitation, infrastructure and energy “hand in hand with Ukrainian businessmen”.
