(Reuters) -Moscow declined United Nations offers to&nbsp;help&nbsp;residents affected by the flooding&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;breached&nbsp;Kakhovka&nbsp;Dam, the world body said on Sunday, as the&nbsp;death&nbsp;toll&nbsp;rose and filthy water has forced the closing of beaches in southern Ukraine.
The collapse of the Moscow-controlled&nbsp;dam&nbsp;on June 6 unleashed floodwaters across southern Ukraine and&nbsp;Russia-occupied parts of the Kherson region, destroying homes and farmland, and cutting off supplies to residents.
The&nbsp;death&nbsp;toll&nbsp;has risen to 52, with&nbsp;Russian officials saying 35 people had died in Moscow-controlled areas and Ukraine's interior ministry saying 17 had died and 31 were missing. More than 11,000 have been evacuated on both sides.
The&nbsp;U.N. urged&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law.
"Aid cannot be denied to people who need it," Denise Brown,&nbsp;U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement.
Ukraine accuses&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;of blowing up the Soviet-era&nbsp;dam, under&nbsp;Russian control since early days of its invasion in 2022.
A team of international legal experts assisting Ukraine's prosecutors in their investigation said it was "highly likely" the&nbsp;dam's collapse was caused by explosives planted by&nbsp;Russians.
The Kremlin accused Kyiv of sabotaging the hydroelectric&nbsp;dam, which held a reservoir the size of the U.S. Great Salt Lake.
Authorities in Odesa closed the once popular Black Sea beaches there, prohibiting swimming and the consumption of fish and seafood&nbsp;from&nbsp;unidentified sources.
"The beaches of Odesa have been declared as unsuitable for swimming due to the significant deterioration of the water ... and real danger to health," Odesa's administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water tests last week showed dangerous levels of salmonella and other "infectious agents," Ukrainian officials said. Monitoring for cholera was also in place.
Although floodwaters have receded, the Dnipro River on which the&nbsp;Kakhovka&nbsp;Dam&nbsp;was built has carried tons of debris into the Black Sea and Odesa's coastline, causing what Ukraine called an "ecocide".
Levels of toxic substances in sea organisms and on the seabed are expected to worsen, augmenting the risk&nbsp;from&nbsp;land mines that are washing up on the shoreline.
"We can forget about a holiday season for a year," Ukraine's Suspilne broadcaster cited Viktor Komorin, head of Center for Marine Ecology, as saying last week.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Michelle Nichols, Ron Popeski;Writing by Lidia Kelly and Ron Popeski;Editing by Lincoln Feast, Chris Reese and Gerry Doyle)

you might like

Russia rejects U.N. help as death toll from breached Kakhovka dam rises