Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response (May 20, 2022)
The Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in co-operation with the authorised federal executive authorities, continues to carefully record the continuing egregious facts of the inhumane treatment of civilians by the authorities in Kiev, and use of social infrastructure for military purposes by Ukrainian armed formations:
in Slavyansk (lyceum of railway transport, 5 Gagarin Street; school No. 4, 17 Danila Galitskyi Street), Avdeevka (school No. 1, 58A Donetskaya Street) of the Donetsk People's Republic, and Konotop, Sumy region (school No. 3, 150 Klubnaya Street; school No. 12, 2 Yaroslav Mudryi Street), the buildings and surrounding areas of educational facilities are equipped with firing positions of territorial defence battalions, infantry fighting vehicles, heavy artillery and ammunition storage facilities have been placed;
in Kramatorsk, Donetsk People's Republic, an AFU stronghold has been equipped in Children's Polyclinic No. 3 (19b Druzhba Street), the approaches to the building have been mined and polyclinic staff and patients are kept in the basement, while seriously ill children, including cancer and insulin-dependent children, cannot receive timely medical care;
near Shestovitsa village, Chernigov region, Ukrainian neo-Nazis have mined a road bridge across the Desna River, which they plan to blow up and, in a well-tested scenario, cynically accuse the Russian Armed Forces of allegedly indiscriminate strikes on vital civilian infrastructure.
The number of daily violations of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions by Kiev regarding the prohibition of placing heavy weapons in residential areas, the use of civilians as human shield and civilian infrastructure for military purposes demonstrates the Kiev regime's continued destructive policy towards its own citizens.
Militants of Ukrainian nationalist formations and units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been carrying out looting raids in residential areas in Gulyaipole, Zaporozhye Region. They forcibly take cash, valuables and personal vehicles from civilians under threat of violence, ostensibly for defence purposes. At the same time, citizens who offer the slightest resistance are beaten and accused of pro-Russian views. All suspects are arrested under the article "collaborationism" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and taken to an unknown destination.
All of this, once again, shows the true "face" of the Ukrainian authorities, who openly express their inhumane attitude to the fate of the people of Ukraine and disregard the 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, 17,306 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,213 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 1,377,925 people have already been evacuated, of which 232,480 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 188,548 personal vehicles including 3,179 over the past 24 hours.
A sufficient number of buses have been placed at the border crossing points to transport people to their chosen places of residence or to temporary accommodation centres.
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 102 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 2,756,228 such appeals from 2,136 locations in Ukraine in the database.
In addition, 75 foreign vessels from 17 countries remain blocked in 7 Ukrainian ports (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa, Yuzhniy and Mariupol). The threat of shelling and high mine danger created by official Kiev in its internal waters and territorial sea prevents vessels from safely leaving the ports and reaching the open sea.
In confirmation of this, the Russian Federation is opening daily from 08:00 to 19:00 (Moscow time) a humanitarian corridor, which is a safe lane south-west of Ukraine's territorial sea, 80 nautical miles long and 3 nautical miles wide.
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.
At the same time, the Kiev authorities continue to avoid engaging with representatives of states and ship-owning companies to resolve the issue of ensuring the safe passage of foreign vessels to the assembly area.
The danger to navigation from Ukrainian mines drifting off their anchors along the coasts of Black Sea states remains.
The Russian Federation is taking a full range of comprehensive measures to ensure the safety of civilian navigation in the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
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 1,543.9 hectares were checked, including 2.7 hectares, 35 buildings (including 2 hospitals and 2 schools), 1 bridge and 7.6 km of roads during the day. 7,596 explosives were detected and defused, 210 of them during the day.
Federal executive authorities, together with the subjects of the Russian Federation, various public organizations, patriotic movements, continue to accumulate humanitarian aid. More than 24,5 tonnes of basic necessities and food kits, including baby food and life-saving medicines, have been prepared at collection points.
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, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography, Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Nationalities, the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation;
republics of Buryatia, Dagestan, Crimea, Tatarstan, Chechen Republic, Altai, Trans-Baikal, Krasnodar and Primorsky Krais, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Tula and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as Moscow city;
Among political parties and non-profit organisations: United Russia, the People's Front All-Russian Public Movement, the All-Russian Public Organisation of Veterans Boyevoe Bratstvo, the Russian Humanitarian Mission autonomous non-profit organisation for the support of humanitarian programmes, and the All-Russian Public and Governmental Organisation Union of Women of Russia.
For a great part of the Ukrainians, forgotten and betrayed by their own government, Russian humanitarian aid remains virtually the only way to survive.
Since March 2, 21,254.4 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,031 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 6 actions in Kharkov, Zaporozye and Kherson regions, as well as in Donetsk People's Republic, during which 281 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On May 20, 7 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kharkov, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 361 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.