Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response (May 31, 2022)
Ukrainian armed formations, in violation of the norms and principles of international humanitarian law, continue to deliberately use medical infrastructure for military purposes. At the same time, the nationalists, using civilians as "human shield", are systematically shelling Russian units, provoking the Russian Armed Forces to retaliate in order to further accuse them of killing civilians and targeting civilian targets indiscriminately.
The Russian Federation's Joint Co-ordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response continues to record such criminal actions by the Kiev regime:
in Kharkov, a hospital building (Igor Muratov Street) has firing points on the upper floors and an ammunition depot in the basement, with medical staff and patients forcibly detained in the premises;
in Chasov Yar, Donetsk People's Republic, wounded Ukrainian nationalist fighters are housed in the buildings of city hospital No 3 (Pirogova Street). Civilians, including the seriously ill, have been forced to leave the medical facility under threat of reprisals, and AFU units have equipped roadblocks and firing points at all approaches to the polyclinic;
in Odessa, nationalists have equipped a stronghold in the building of Hospital No 9 (Pastera Street), with armoured vehicles and artillery placed in the surrounding area;
in Kramatorsk, Donetsk People's Republic, a stronghold has been placed in Children's Polyclinic No. 3 (Geroev Ukrainy Street), approaches to the building have been mined and polyclinic staff and patients, including children, are forcibly detained in the basement.
These and other similar facts, despite our repeated statements, have to date been ignored by the World Health Organisation.
Once again, we call on all international organisations, especially the World Health Organisation, to influence official Kiev and take effective measures to prevent the use of medical infrastructure for military purposes.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 20,043 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,886 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 1,576,301 people have already been evacuated, of which 257,156 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 225,089 personal vehicles including 3,716 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 78 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 2,757,235 such appeals from 2,137 locations in Ukraine in the database.
In addition, 70 foreign vessels from 16 countries remain blocked in 6 Ukrainian ports (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhniy). The threat of shelling and high mine danger posed by official Kiev prevents vessels from entering the high seas unhindered.
As a result of the measures taken by the Russian Navy, the mine threat in the waters of the port of Mariupol has been eliminated and measures are being taken to restore the port infrastructure.
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.
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 2,604.94 hectares were checked (including 23 hectares during the day), 35 buildings (including 13 socially important facilities), 1 bridge and 9.64 km of roads. 12,880 explosives were detected and defused, 195 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 28 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 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 Service of State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography, Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Federal Agency for Nationalities;
republics of Buryatia, Dagestan, Crimea, Tatarstan, Chechen Republic, Altai, Trans-Baikal, Krasnodar and Primorsky territories, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Yaroslavl 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, the open joint-stock company Russian Railways and the All-Russian public and state organisation Russian Women's Union.
Since March 2, 24,652.1 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,081 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 3 actions in Kharkov and Kherson regions, as well as in Donetsk People's Republic, during which 309.8 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On May 31, 5 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kherson and Zaporozye regions, in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 391.9 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.