The US deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, would not determine who is responsible for the explosion of the Kakhovka dam. Considering Kyiv’s categorical designation of the Russians, the American reservation is startling. It will probably be interpreted in several ways and one of them will be that the US knows more than it wants to say.

It is unclear who is to blame for the dam collapse, but it seems unreasonable for Ukraine to do this, says Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the UN.

The statement was given to reporters as Wood was on his way into the urgently called meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday evening. There, the council members will discuss the situation around the damaged Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.

What caused the collapse on Tuesday night has not yet been determined. Large areas in Kherson county are flooded, and around 17,000 people have been evacuated. (NTB)

One who also won’t say who he thinks or knows is behind it is Rishi Sunak.

Sunak tells BBC reporter Chris Mason and others on board a flight to Washington that Britain’s intelligence and military are investigating the matter and that it is too early to determine what has happened.

Sunak is quoted in Mason’s Twitter thread as saying that it will be “the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the war broke out”, if it turns out that the dam has been destroyed by Russia. (NTB)