Zelenskyy: Red Cross is afraid to blame Russia for strike on humanitarian mission

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed regret that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been hesitant to blame Russia for a strike on humanitarian mission vehicles in Donetsk which resulted in the deaths of three ICRC staff members.

Source: Zelenskyy at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting

Quote: "It is very disappointing to see that the Red Cross, in its official communication, was afraid to even say it was a Russian strike. This is our life, but it’s their face. And this is not just the truth – it’s a Russian strike; it is Russian terror."

Background:

• On 12 September, three ICRC staff members were killed and two others injured in a morning artillery attack on Viroliubivka in Kostiantynivka hromada, Donetsk Oblast [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories – ed.]. A lorry carrying humanitarian aid and a car were destroyed.
• The ICRC said their team had been preparing to distribute firewood and fuel briquettes north of Donetsk when their vehicles came under fire. The organisation’s statement did not specify who carried out the attack. 
• Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that the dead and injured were ICRC staff members who were in the lorry at the time of the attack. He urged the ICRC to publicly condemn Russia’s actions, which violate the Geneva Conventions, and expressed outrage at the lack of response from international organisations.

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