Shocked” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by what he called the “failure” of the United Nations and the Red Cross to provide aid to his country after the destruction of the Khakhovka hydroelectric dam.

Although the disaster occurred several hours ago, the services of these organizations “are not here,” Zelensky told German newspapers Bild and Die Welt and Politico.

“We had no response. I’m shocked,” he said.

Zelensky also claimed that Russian soldiers are firing from afar while rescue efforts are underway. “When our rescuers try to save them (including residents), they shoot them,” he reportedly said.

Exactly the same statement was made in a video message posted on Telegram by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denis Smykhal.

“The Russian occupiers are not even making any effort to help these people, they have left them to perish,” he argued, calling on the UN and the Red Cross to intervene. “International humanitarian organizations, on behalf of the government of Ukraine, I urge you: you must act immediately. We appeal to you to undertake the evacuation from the Russian-occupied territories of Kherson province, we must save the people, whom the occupiers condemned to death,” he said.

The Ukrainian president also spoke by phone with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and told him of his country’s “urgent needs” after the disaster. “We talked about the current situation in Kherson, the environmental and humanitarian consequences of this Russian act of terrorism, and underlined Ukraine’s needs to deal with the disaster,” he tweeted.