Ukraine needs an immediate and maximally global response to Russian terror, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message published in English on Tuesday night.

“I address everyone in the world for whom life is a value. Today the Russian occupiers have committed the biggest crime of ecocide on the Ukrainian land – not only during this war, but in decades,” he said.

Zelenskyy noted that “the destroyed Kakhovka reservoir is one of the largest in Ukraine. It holds 18 billion cubic meters of water.”

“Last fall, we had information that the occupiers had mined the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. They did it intentionally. First, to blackmail the world. Second, to blow up the dam and use the flood as a weapon. This is exactly what happened,” the president said.

According to him, “the destruction of the dam and the reservoir is a man-made strike on the environment, after which nature will have to recover for decades.”

“As of today, several things are clear. First, such a crime of ecocide could not have happened simply by shelling the dam. To destroy it, Russian forces had to act deliberately – mine, blow up, destroy. Secondly, no country in the world should be left alone against such terror, and I am grateful to everyone who is helping Ukraine!” the President said.

According to Zelenskyy, “we need an immediate and maximum global response to Russian terror. From the UN Security Council to every international institution. Every state, every leader. Russian terrorists must leave our entire territory.”

“The deliberate destruction of the hydroelectric dam by terrorists looks the same from all corners of the world. For Africa, Europe, the United States, China, Australia, and India, man-made disasters are evil. We must stop the Russian evil. All other terrorists in the world must see that terror is punished by the world,” Zelenskyy said.