Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response (August 6, 2022)
Provocations by the criminal Kiev regime against Ukraine's nuclear energy facilities, threatening their safety, have already become systemic.
Thus, August 5, 2022, Ukrainian nationalists launched an artillery strike on the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP during a routine shift of employees. Two high-voltage power lines and a water pipeline were damaged as a result of the shelling. More than 10,000 residents of Zaporozhye Region have been left without electricity and water supply. Only thanks to the skilled, competent and effective actions of the units of the Russian Armed Forces in covering the nuclear power facility, the critical infrastructure of the nuclear power plant was not affected.
In accordance with the International Convention adopted by the UN General Assembly on April 13, 2005, we consider these criminal actions of the Ukrainian authorities to be nuclear terrorism. At the same time, United Nations officials continue to obstruct objective international monitoring of Zaporozhye NPP by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
We emphasise that this is not the first such provocation by the Kiev regime at radiation-hazardous sites. The shelling of Zaporozhye NPP territory by Ukrainian armed formations is deliberate and regular, creating a real threat to nuclear safety not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe.
In case of an accident at Zaporozhye NPP there will be a global man-made disaster, which in terms of radioactive contamination will significantly exceed the consequences of accidents at nuclear power plants in Chernobyl and Fukushima. The population of Kiev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Poltava, Kherson, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kirovograd, Vinnytsa regions, Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, the border regions of Russia and Belarus, as well as Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania, will find themselves in the radiation contamination zone (over 5 300 sq km, length about 420 km). The situation could be seriously exacerbated by adverse weather conditions and the entry into the zone of possible contamination of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant (3,000 MW capacity) and the nuclear fuel storage at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as water arteries. The Black Sea and the Bosphorus will become permanently unseaworthy. The coasts of Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Bulgaria and Romania will be contaminated with high levels of radiation.
Once again, we call on the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international organizations to influence official Kiev and take effective measures to prevent provocations at Ukraine's radiation-hazardous facilities.
In addition, it is reliably known that AFU command, through the 72nd Centre for Information and Psychological Operations, is preparing another large-scale provocation with civilian deaths allegedly caused by indiscriminate strikes by the Russian Armed Forces.
In order to carry it out, mortar crews have been deployed in the suburbs of Slavyansk in Donetsk People's Republic, with which it is planned to strike at densely populated areas by the locals and refugees on August 7, 2022. (Geologicheskaya Street) during the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Foreign journalists arrived in the city to prepare photographs and videos of the alleged "killing of civilians by Russians" and to distribute them widely in the Ukrainian and Western media.
We are warning the international community and international organizations in advance of the cynical provocation being prepared by the Ukrainian authorities, as a result of which civilians may suffer and the Kyiv regime will accuse the Russian armed forces of civilian deaths in a well-established scenario.
Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in cooperation with the authorised federal executive authorities, continues to record numerous facts of criminal actions by Kiev regime against civilians, as well as the use of medical infrastructure for military purposes by Ukrainian armed formations:
in Novaya Vodolaga, Kharkov Region, militants of nationalist battalions have equipped a stronghold and ammunition depot in the building of a kindergarten (Troitskaya Street), the approaches to the educational facility are mined, but the local population is deliberately not informed about this;
in Nikolaev, neo-Nazis have equipped firing positions and ammunition depots on the lower and upper floors of apartment buildings (Kherson Highway). Under the pretext of alleged security, the militants have forbidden local residents to leave their homes, and all their attempts to evacuate to safe areas on their own are being severely curtailed;
in Druzhkovka, Donetsk People's Republic, the building of vocational school No. 36 (Sobornaya Street) is occupied by militants of Ukrainian armed formations, with armoured vehicles, MLRS and artillery in the surrounding area, and the approaches to the building are mined, but the local population is deliberately not informed of this.
In addition, according to operational information, militants of Ukrainian armed formations in Tavryiskoye, Zaporozhye Region, have mined a road bridge across the Konka River, which they plan to blow up and accuse units of the Russian Armed Forces and the Donetsk People's Republic of allegedly indiscriminate strikes on transport infrastructure facilities.
We once again emphasize that during the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces and military formations of Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics are not striking at civilian infrastructure facilities, are treating civilians extremely humanely and are providing civilians with comprehensive assistance and support.
Such actions by Kiev once again demonstrate an inhuman attitude towards the fate of its own citizens and show a complete disregard for all norms of morality and international humanitarian law.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 25,407 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 4,311 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 3,155,253 people have already been evacuated, of which 498,773 are children.
The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 523,941 personal vehicles including 3,896 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 27 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 2,759,894 such appeals from 2,139 locations in Ukraine in the database.
However, 66 foreign vessels from 14 countries remain blocked in six ports (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhny). 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 Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhnyi ports in a south-westerly direction from Ukraine's territorial sea, 139 miles long and 3 miles wide;
in the Sea of Azov, to leave Mariupol port 115 miles long and 2 miles wide towards the Black Sea.
Detailed information in English and Russian on the modus operandi of the maritime humanitarian corridor is broadcast daily every 15 minutes on VHF radio on 14 and 16 international channels in English and Russian.
Demining detachments of the Russian Armed Forces and the EMERCOM of Russia are carrying out land and facility clearance tasks in the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics.
A total of 7,204.96 hectares were checked, 716 buildings (including 13 socially important facilities), 4 bridges and 112.57 km of roads. 229,904 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 - water pipeline over 20 km long (completion date in September 2022);
in Lugansk People's Republic:
in Lugansk: 200-bed multi-purpose medical centre (completion date in October 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 Transport of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, Federal Bailiff Service, Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography, Federal Agency of Nationalities;
republics of Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Crimea, Sakha (Yakutia), Tatarstan, Kabardino-Balkarian and Chechen Republics, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kostroma regions, Leningrad, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Tula and Yaroslavl regions, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, as well as Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol cities;
among political parties and non-profit organisations: United Russia, the People's Front All-Russian Public Movement, the All-Russian Public Organisation of Veterans "Battle Brotherhood", the autonomous non-profit organisations Humanitarian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Humanitarian Mission, the open joint-stock company Russian Railways, the state corporations Roscosmos and Rosatom, and the all-Russian public and state organisation 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 53,000 tons of basic necessities, food and medicines have been prepared at the collection points. Since March 2, 2022, 51,587.6 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,412 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 3 actions in Kherson and Kharkov regions, as well as in Lugansk People's Republic, during which 49.8 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On August 6, 2022, 3 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kharkov and Zaporozhye regions, in Donetsk People's Republic, during which 390.5 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.