Ukrainian diplomats and negotiators brought Russia’s war with them to the UN’s COP28 climate change summit in Dubai this year. When the summit’s guests enter the summit’s expo hall, one of the first things they see is a brick roof from Kherson Oblast damaged in Russia’s destruction of the Khakovka Dam that flooded and washed away entire villages, Alex Riabchyn, Ukrainian COP negotiator since 2015 and former lawmaker, told me over the phone as he gave me a virtual tour of Ukraine’s pavilion. Ukraine is also there to make sure the world doesn’t forget who is responsible for the damage to the country’s environment: Russia.
Experts suspect an explosion collapsed the dam on the Dnipro River. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other, and residents downstream were forced to evacuate to escape the cascading waves.
The mounting death toll in Ukraine has forced President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider concessions to Russia in order bring an end to the devastating conflict, but the specific elements of any peace deal his government may be discussing with Moscow remain a mystery to Western leaders, said U.S. and European officials.
The conflicting forecasts have led to some confusion among Western leaders who see limited movement toward reconciling Russia's demands with what Ukraine would find acceptable.