Moscow
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is eager to work on establishing humanitarian corridors in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian military operation, ICRC President Peter Maurer said in an interview with Sputnik.
The ICRC president was visiting the eastern European country from March 14-18.
“We are very much committed to facilitating agreement [on humanitarian corridors], but the agreement and the consensus have to happen between the military on the ground who are in control of the territories, who have the power to decide on decontaminating exit routes and de-mining exit routes,” Maurer said.
The official noted the ICRC’s involvement in evacuation of inhabitants from the city of Sumy last week.
“What we can do is to discuss with Russia and Ukraine on our experience in many other places of the world. We have a check list on what to consider when you discuss corridors. We need arrangements, exact agreements on the routes, on the streets, we need coordinates where the military are, we need agreements between the militaries on what happens when there are incidents, hotlines between the two sides, the commanders on the ground,” Maurer stated.
On February 24, Russia began a military operation to “demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine,” responding to calls from the breakaway Donbas republics for help in countering the aggression of Ukrainian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.
According to the UN refugee agency, around 3.5 million people have already left Ukraine for neighboring countries, of which 230,000 came to Russia, since the start of hostilities. Around 6.5 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced.
