Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk appealed to representatives of international humanitarian organizations with the International Committee of the Red Cross to do everything possible to organize a humanitarian corridor for citizens staying in Donbass cities occupied by Russia, where active hostilities continue.
She said that at a briefing meeting at the President's Office.
"Dear Ukrainians! Last day and night were difficult. However, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding back the enemy. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to protect people from pain and suffering. The enemy has chosen the path of terror for people, who live on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the cities of Volnovakha, Severodonetsk and others, which are under the total devastating fire of the enemy. There is a real humanitarian catastrophe, which involves children, adults, sick people, the same as people with disabilities," Vereshchuk pointed out.
She emphasized that the occupying forces do not give people humanitarian corridors, violating all international humanitarian norms. "As the Deputy Prime Minister who is in charge of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, I must admit that we expected more real support and assistance from international humanitarian structures. It concerns especially such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN and the OSCE. However, at the same time, your internationally recognized neutral status gives you more security than our national Ukrainian structures, and this internationally recognized neutral status gives you the opportunity to carry out humanitarian work here, including the aim you were created for. You can't do all the humanitarian work sitting in Lviv," the minister said.
Vereshchuk added that if representatives of international organizations are not able to do their humanitarian mandate, because of the danger from the Russian army, they should announce it.
"You must clearly say the reason to the whole world why you cannot fulfill your humanitarian mandate. If you are not allowed to do your work directly in Donbass, we ask you to provide us with urgent transport assistance on the roads. And the most important thing I ask you to do is creating humanitarian corridors in Donbass for people’s evacuation," the minister stressed.
She also called for resolving the issue of humanitarian corridors in Kyiv and Kyiv region.
"We know about the insidious intentions of the enemy to occupy Kyiv with surrounding it. I have a convinction that the Ukrainian army and all those who defend our land with weapons in their hands ... will do everything possible to prevent that from happening. However, I would like to ask the Red Cross to do everything possible to ensure humanitarian corridors," Vereshchuk said.
Let’s remind that on February 25, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced terminating its mission in Ukraine and evacuating employees. OSCE observers have been working in Donbas since 2014.