President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he visited the flood-stricken Kherson region on Thursday, where rescue efforts pushed ahead after the destruction of a dam on the Dnipro River, as he called for “a clear and quick global response” to the disaster, trabsnuts NyTimes.

An explosion early Tuesday at the Kakhovka dam sent a torrent of water from a reservoir upstream coursing down the river, flooding much of the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson and dozens of settlements on both sides of the Dnipro, an active war zone that cuts through Russian- and Ukrainian-controlled territory.

“I visited a crossing point where people are being evacuated from flooded areas,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, in which he thanked rescue workers. “Our task is to protect lives and help people as much as possible.”