Red Cross car. File photoGENEVA, Mar 27The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is discussing the possibility of opening an additional office in Rostov-on-Don in response to growing needs due to the crisis in Ukraine, the ICRC said in a statement released in Geneva. to Ukraine, as well as neighboring countries, including Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Russia, to support our operations and respond effectively to humanitarian needs where they arise.As part of this regional expansion, we are also discussing opening an office in Rostov , in southern Russia, where we currently do not have an office,» the statement reads.Kyiv called on the ICRC to abandon the idea of opening an office in Rostov-on-DonThe ICRC was reminded that over the past 10 days, as part of diplomatic efforts, the President of the International Red Cross, Peter Maurer, visited Ukraine and Russia to discuss the most important humanitarian issues. The ICRC also «intends to significantly scale up our response to the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region.» «Building and maintaining a dialogue with parties to conflict is essential in order to gain access to all affected people, with the necessary security guarantees so that our teams can deliver vital assistance. This dialogue also serves as a reminder to the parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law, including humanitarian visits by the ICRC to prisoners of war and other persons protected by the Geneva Conventions, wherever they may be,» the committee noted. in Ukraine on February 24th. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Russian Armed Forces, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive, but there is no talk of the occupation of Ukraine, the Russian president emphasized. rely on Kiev's fulfillment of humanitarian obligations
