The humanitarian situation in Russian-occupied areas such as Mariupol is sometimes catastrophic. Now London fears that deadly diseases will spread more – and refers to individual cases of cholera.
In view of the difficult humanitarian situation in the Russian-held areas of Ukraine, Great Britain has warned of the spread of deadly diseases such as cholera.
The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Friday that there is probably already a critical shortage of medicines in the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson. A cholera outbreak is threatening in the port city of Mariupol.
“Individual cases of cholera have been reported since May,” it said, referring to intelligence findings. “Medical care in Mariupol is probably already on the verge of collapse. A major cholera outbreak in Mariupol will exacerbate this further.” In Ukraine there was a severe cholera epidemic in 1995 and since then there have been repeated smaller outbreaks, especially in the southeastern Ukrainian region around Mariupol on the Azov Sea.
“Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russian-occupied territories,” the ministry said. “Access to clean drinking water is erratic, and telephone and internet services continue to be severely disrupted.”
Regarding the situation in eastern Ukraine, the ministry announced that fighting for the city of Sievjerodonetsk continued. “Russia again controls most of the city, but its forces have made little progress in trying to encircle the wider area from the north and south.”
Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the British government has been unusually open in regularly releasing intelligence information on the course of the war of aggression. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign.
