The Red Cross recognized the inappropriateness of its statement criticizing Ukraine – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Head of ICRC Mission in Ukraine Juan-Pedro Scherer. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross admitted that their statement condemning Ukrainian attacks on the Russian Federation was “inappropriate” and promised to improve communication.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on its website

Details: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on January 20, the head of the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, Juan-Pedro Scherer, was summoned to the ministry in order to discuss some incorrect public statements of the Committee’s leadership. In particular, in its statement on January 14, the Red Cross condemned “recent attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia.” Enumerating the affected cities, the mission mentioned not only Ukrainian Kyiv, Dnipro and Donetsk, but also Russian Belgorod.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that during the meeting, the Ukrainian side expressed its “deep disappointment” with the statement of the regional director of the ICRC for Europe and Central Asia, which, in fact, “equalizes the responsibility of the Russian Federation as an aggressor state and Ukraine, which defends itself and its people, for human suffering.”

The Ukrainian side emphasized that, in contrast to the Russian aggressor, Ukraine strikes exclusively at legitimate military targets of the enemy within the scope of exercising its inalienable right to self-defense in accordance with the UN Charter. In this context, any attempts to identify, equate or draw false parallels between Ukraine and Russia are “immoral, erroneous and absolutely unacceptable”.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the ICRC recognized the inappropriateness of such attempts to equate responsibility and agreed with the need to improve the Committee’s communication approaches in the future. Juan-Pedro Scherer also noted that he and his colleagues in Kyiv have a good understanding of the real humanitarian situation and have experienced the consequences of Russian attacks firsthand.

In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Ukraine expects the Committee to be more persistent in its efforts to ensure uninterrupted access to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians illegally held by the Russian Federation, as well as to relevant public communications.

What preceded: The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine for an explanation regarding the committee’s statement condemning the strikes “in Ukraine and Russia”.

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