Foreign Ministry summoned representative of ICRC for talks: he acknowledged that comparing strikes in Ukraine and Russia was inappropriate
On January 20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Juan Pedro Scherer, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Ukraine. They discussed the inappropriate public comparison of strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine and Russia, and he acknowledged the mistake made by the Committee's leadership.
This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to Censor.NET.
What is known?
The Ukrainian side expressed its "deep disappointment" with the statement made on January 14 by the ICRC's regional director for Europe and Central Asia. He wrote that recent strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia had "left millions of people" with almost no electricity, water, or heating during the cold weather.
The Foreign Ministry stated that the official had effectively equated the responsibility of Russia as an aggressor state with that of Ukraine, which is defending its people in a full-scale war.
The agency emphasized that, unlike the Russian aggressor, Ukraine strikes only legitimate military targets of the enemy within the limits of its right to self-defense in accordance with the UN Charter.
"In this context, any attempts to equate, compare, or draw false parallels between Ukraine and Russia are immoral, erroneous, and completely unacceptable," the Foreign Ministry said during a meeting with a representative of the ICRC.
The Red Cross acknowledged its mistake
Ukraine, in turn, expects the Committee to be persistent in its efforts to ensure uninterrupted access to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians, as well as in its public communications on this issue.
ICRC representatives acknowledged that the attempt to compare responsibility for the attacks was inappropriate and agreed that the Committee's communication approaches needed to be improved in the future. Scherer noted that he and his colleagues in Kyiv were well aware of the real humanitarian situation and had experienced the consequences of Russian strikes firsthand.
During the meeting, the parties agreed to promote further strengthening of bilateral dialogue so that the Committee could gain a deeper understanding of the relevance of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine caused by Russia's attacks.
What preceded it?
- The day before, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross wrote on social media that recent strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia "left millions of people with almost no electricity, water, or heating in low temperatures in Kyiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Belgorod, and other cities." It was stated that such strikes are "prohibited." With this statement, the organization equated strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine with attacks on Russian enterprises.
- In turn, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized this post and called the organization's statement "shameful," and the moral equivalence between the aggressor and the defending country "false and unacceptable."
