Kakhovka dam: Zelensky “shocked” by the lack of humanitarian aid

< /p> UPDATE DAY

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday deplored the lack of humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the Red Cross after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country, which caused a serious crisis.

“The UN, the United Nations and the representatives of the Red Cross are not there. All these hours they still aren't here,” Zelensky said in an interview broadcast by German media Welt TV and Bild.

He said he was “shocked” because “these are the forces that must be there to save people's lives.”

The destruction on Tuesday of this hydroelectric dam located in an area under Russian control, for which Moscow and Kiev reject responsibility, flooded towns and villages located on both banks of the Dnieper River, including districts of the regional capital, Kherson .

Thousands of civilians must be evacuated. Ukraine's president said he feared “massive environmental damage”.

In the interview with German media, Zelensky accused Russian forces of targeting rescuers trying to bring in aid. help.

“As soon as our forces try to get someone out of there, the occupiers shoot at them from a distance”.

“From the roofs of flooded houses, people watch the drowned pass by,” he further described.

After a telephone interview with Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday evening the sending, “in the next few hours”, of “aid to meet the immediate needs” of Ukraine in the face of this disaster.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced a relief coordination meeting on Thursday, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. According to Mr. Kuleba, Mr. Stoltenberg promised “to activate NATO mechanisms in order to provide humanitarian aid”.

Mr. Zelensky said in the interview that he shared information with Ukraine's international partners a year ago showing that there was a risk of the dam being targeted.

“We communicated this information to our partners and all told us that the risk of the dam exploding was very high,” he added.