Three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed on Thursday after shelling hit the site of a planned frontline aid distribution in the Donetsk region. Two additional ICRC staff members were wounded.
According to a statement by ICRC, the distribution of humanitarian assistance had not begun, and no residents were affected by the explosion.
ICRC President, Mirjana Spoljaric said: “I condemn attacks on Red Cross personnel in the strongest terms. It’s unconscionable that shelling would hit an aid distribution site. Our hearts are broken today as we mourn the loss of our colleagues and care for the injured. This tragedy unleashes a wave of grief all too familiar to those who have lost loved ones in armed conflict.”
The statement said, the ICRC team was preparing to distribute wood and coal briquettes in Viroliubivka village, north of Donetsk city, to vulnerable households to help them prepare for the upcoming winter when the vehicles they were using were hit.
It added that the ICRC teams are regularly present in the Donetsk region, and our vehicles are clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem. The deaths of three ICRC colleagues come amid a sharp rise in the number of humanitarians killed around the world over the last two years.
The ICRC urgently called for the respect of international humanitarian law, including by taking every precaution possible to ensure that those engaged in humanitarian activities are not targeted or caught in hostilities.
The statement is emphasized that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organisation with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
