President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is disappointed with the reaction of the UN and the Red Cross to the explosion of the dam of Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and the destruction of Kakhovka reservoir.

"The UN and the Red Cross should 'be the first to save lives, as this is what these structures were created for,'" he said in an interview with Bild on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy is deeply disappointed with the response of the two organizations to requests from Ukraine: "We have not received a response. I am shocked. If there was a reaction, it was 'very diplomatic," he said.

He linked the explosion of the dam at Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant with the planned counteroffensive. "They are afraid that we will launch a counteroffensive in this direction, and they want to make it difficult to liberate our territories," the president said.

"A year ago we said that we had information that something was about to happen" and also that the dam would be mined. Ukraine "shared this information with our partners," he said.

"Everyone said there was a high risk that the dam would be blown up if the enemy felt that we were striking these areas to free them," he said.

Zelenskyy, he said, is not surprised by the disaster: "We are no longer surprised by what Russia is doing. Torture, rape – it all happened. This is their way of waging war," he said.