KIEV, Sept 16 (Askume) – Ukraine said on Monday it had urged the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to join humanitarian relief operations in Russia’s Kursk region after a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian troops.
More than a month after the attack, Ukrainian troops are still deployed in the Kursk region, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev had recaptured about 100 settlements. Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday its forces had recaptured two villages.
Foreign Minister Andrei Tsibiha said he had instructed his ministry to formally invite the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to work in the Kursk region during a visit to Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Sunday. The ministry confirmed it had made the request.
“Ukraine is ready to assist them in their work and demonstrate compliance with international humanitarian law,” Sibiha said after visiting Sumy, where Ukrainian troops launched the cross-border offensive.
He said the Ukrainian military was providing humanitarian aid and ensuring safe passage for civilians in the Kursk region.
The Foreign Ministry said in a written statement that the invitation of the ICRC and the UN was “taking into account the humanitarian situation and the need to properly ensure fundamental human rights in the Kursk region”.
The ministry said it has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor Ukraine’s compliance with the principles of international humanitarian law in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, including the protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
It was not clear whether this was the United Nations or the International Committee of the Red Cross. What is the response to this?
Russian state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying such comments were “provocative”. He pointed out that Moscow had launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and did not expect to accept invitations from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spolejalic, has arrived in Moscow and plans to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, RIA Novosti reported on Monday.
Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling last week killed three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross and wounded two others in a village in the Donetsk frontline region. Spoljlik condemned the attacks.
