Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia the plan to blow up a dam in southern Ukraine. He said Russian troops are heading towards a full-scale disaster that would affect hundreds of thousands of people in 80 cities across the country.

What happened: On a newer TV addressZelenskyy said that Russian forces planted explosives in the Nova Kakhovka dam and planned to blow it up.

“Now everyone in the world must act forcefully and quickly to prevent another Russian terrorist attack. The destruction of the dam would mean a catastrophe on a large scale,” Zelenskyy said in the speech.

Zelenskyy has urged world leaders to look into the matter, telling Russia that this act would be treated “in the same way as the use of weapons of mass destruction,” with similar consequences.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoken to clear up misunderstandings.

Also read: US State Department says Putin will be held accountable for war crimes in Ukraine

The geopolitical background: American President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin resorted to brutality Ukrainians in the midst of his war in Kyiv.

“I find Wladimir Putin is in an incredibly difficult position and what reflects to me is that his only tool at his disposal is to brutalize individual citizens in Ukraine to intimidate them into surrendering,” Biden said in the white A house.

Biden and Putin could cross paths during next month’s G-20 summit in Indonesia, and the Biden administration is doing everything it can to avoid that scenario.

Last week, Putin inspected a training ground for mobilized troops. In addition, Putin has strengthened Moscow’s war and imposed martial law in four illegally annexed regions of Ukraine.

Photo: President of Ukraine on flickr.