Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response (August 26, 2022)
Despite repeated statements by the Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, Ukrainian armed formations continue to strike at social infrastructure facilities, including medical facilities.
On August 26, 2022, units of the 27th Artillery Brigade of AFU shelled a hospital in Stakhanov, Lugansk People's Republic, using American HIMARS MLRS. The attack severely damaged the building, killing three people and injuring seven others with varying degrees of severity. The commanders of AFU units that gave the criminal order knew in advance that the chosen target was an active civilian medical facility (marked with red crosses on a white background) where elderly people, children and pregnant women were being treated.
Once again we call on the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations to condemn the actions of the authorities in Kiev and to take immediate measures to prevent the targeting of medical facilities.
Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in cooperation with the authorised federal executive authorities, continues to record the use of educational institutions for military purposes by Ukrainian armed formations:
in Belitskoye, Donetsk People's Republic, Ukrainian nationalists have equipped a stronghold in the building of School No. 10 (Trudovaya Street) and placed heavy armoured vehicles and artillery pieces in the surrounding area, without evacuating civilians from nearby houses; the nationalists use them as human shield;
in Dobropol'e, Donetsk People's Republic, AFU units have equipped a barracks and ammunition depots on the territory of school No. 6 (Chernyavskogo Street) and deployed positions of long-range artillery and MLRS, from which they systematically shell nearby settlements;
in Paniutino, Kharkov Region, nationalist battalion fighters are stationed in school No 2 (Petrovsky Street), ammunition depots are equipped and armoured vehicles are deployed, while residents of adjacent residential areas have not been evacuated to safe place.
Such actions by criminal Ukrainian authorities demonstrate complete indifference to the fate of their own citizens and absolute disregard for all norms of morality and the principles of international humanitarian law.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 24,859 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 3,655 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 3,680,474 people have already been evacuated, of which 587,186 are children.
The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 623,588 personal vehicles including 4,924 per day.
More than 9,500 temporary accommodation centres continue to operate in the regions of the Russian Federation. The refugees are dealt with on an individual basis and are promptly assisted with various pressing issues relating to onward accommodation, employment assistance, places for children in kindergartens and educational institutions, and the provision of entitlements to social benefits.
Over the past 24 hours, the hotline of the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response, federal executive authorities, constituent entities of the Russian Federation and various NGOs received 23 requests from foreign and Ukrainian citizens to evacuate to Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as to the Russian Armed Forces-controlled areas of Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Kharkov and Kherson regions. In total there are 2,760,486 such appeals from 2,139 locations in Ukraine and from Kiev-controlled territory of the Donetsk People's Republic in the database.
However, 51 foreign vessels from 14 countries remain blocked in six ports (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhny).
As part of the implementation of Secure Grain Transport Initiative from Ukrainian Ports since August 1, 2022 a total of 39 vessels (including 19 blocked) have left with 821,547 tonnes of food exported, including: Including: 570,210 tonnes of maize, 28,850 tonnes of sunflower oil, 50,301 tonnes of flour, 17,000 tonnes of soya, 90,172 tonnes of wheat, 2,914 tonnes of sunflower seed, 18,500 tonnes of compound feed, 14,000 tonnes of sugar beet and 29,600 tonnes of rapeseed.
There also remains a danger to navigation and damage to port infrastructure from drifting Ukrainian mines off anchor along the coast of the Black Sea states.
The Russian Armed Forces have created conditions for the operation of two maritime humanitarian corridors, which are safe lanes for ships:
in the Black Sea - to leave Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhnyi ports in a south-western direction from Ukraine's territorial sea, 307 miles long and 20 miles wide;
in the Sea of Azov, to leave Mariupol port 115 miles long and 2 miles wide towards the Black Sea.
Demining teams of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian EMERCOM, as well as EMERCOMs of Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics continue to carry out tasks to clear explosive objects from the Donbass republics and liberated areas of Ukraine.
A total of 20,437.7 hectares have been checked, as well as 1,556 buildings (including 13 socially important facilities), 4 bridges and 208.26 km of roads. 620,937 explosive objects have been detected and deactivated.
The Military Construction Complex of the Russian Defence Ministry continues to build and reconstruct vital facilities as part of the measures to restore the infrastructure of the people's republics of Donbass:
in Donetsk People's Republic:
in Mariupol: the first phase of residential district (12 residential buildings with 1,011 flats, completion date in September-November 2022) and an administrative and rescue centre for EMERCOM (scheduled for completion in December 2022);
60-bed multi-purpose medical centre (completion date in September 2022);
pathologoanatomic building with medical-forensic unit (completion date in October 2022);
Saur-Grave memorial complex (completion date in September 2022);
in Volnovakha - a water pipeline over 20 km long (completion date in October 2022, 100% construction readiness, pontoon station pumps are being installed and connected);
in Lugansk People's Republic:
in Lugansk: 200-bed multi-purpose medical centre (completion date in November 2022);
in Rovenki - water pipeline over 40 km long (completion date in October 2022).
Federal executive authorities, together with the subjects of the Russian Federation, various public organizations, patriotic movements, continue to accumulate humanitarian aid.
The greatest contributors to the relief effort were:
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Federal Tax Service, Federal Customs Service, Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, Federal Agency for Fishery;
Republic of Crimea, Chechen Republic, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Stavropol regions, Belgorod, Bryansk, Amur, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kirov, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Tula and Yaroslavl regions, the cities of Moscow, Sevastopol, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area;
Among political parties and non-profit organisations: United Russia, the All-Russian People's Front movement, the autonomous non-profit organisation Humanitarian Volunteer Corps, the open joint-stock company Russian Railways, the state corporations Roscosmos and Rosatom, and the All-Russian public and state organisations Russian Union of Machine Builders and Russian Women's Union.
For a great part of Ukrainians, effectively betrayed by their own criminal authorities, Russian humanitarian aid remains the only way to survive.
More than 61,700 tons of basic necessities, food and medicines have been prepared at the collection points. Since March 2, 2022, 60,124.3 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,511 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 6 actions in Zaporozhye, Kherson and Kharkov regions, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 478.9 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On August 26, 8 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Kherson regions, in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 629.7 tonnes of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.