Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine (May 19, 2022)
The Russian Federation's Joint Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in co-operation with the competent federal executive authorities and law enforcement agencies, continues to record in detail the numerous facts of the inhumane treatment of the civilian population by the authorities in Kiev, as well as the flagrantly brutal provocations against their own people.
According to reliable information, the Kiev regime is preparing another sophisticated provocation with the use of so-called "travelling mortars" in Seredina Buda, Sumy Region. Militants of nationalist battalions plan to fire at Russian border territory from areas of residential buildings in order to provoke retaliatory fire on residential buildings with locals held in them. The Kiev authorities plan to use this cynical action in the near future to accuse Russian servicemen of allegedly indiscriminate strikes against civilians, followed by extensive coverage in the Ukrainian and Western media, as well as online resources.
We once again draw attention to the fact that during the special military operation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, unlike the armed formations of Ukraine, strictly observe all the norms of international humanitarian law, treat the local population extremely humanely and do not strike at civilian objects.
Such criminal actions and provocations on the part of the Kiev regime once again demonstrate Kiev's inhuman attitude towards the fate of its citizens and show complete disregard for the norms and principles of international humanitarian law.
Ukraine's armed formations continue to openly and widely use health and cultural institutions, residential buildings, churches, kindergartens and schools and other civilian facilities to shelter military units and deploy weapons, while there is no question of evacuating civilians from these facilities and thousands of people are being held by the nationalists as human shield:
members of Ukrainian armed formations have equipped strongholds in and around pre-school and general education facilities in Kramatorsk (School No. 31), Slavaynsk (Schools No. 12, 20, kindergartens No. 15 and 23) and Druzhkovka (School No. 8) in the Donetsk People's Republic, they placed ammunition depots and heavy weapons, including artillery and MLRS, while residents of nearby houses are forcibly kept in basements without water and food under the pretext of ensuring their safety;
in Bakhmut of the Donetsk People's Republic, nationalists have equipped firing positions and sniper points on the upper floors of apartment buildings on Defenders of Ukraine Street, the approaches to the buildings are mined, but the local population is deliberately not informed about this.
These and other similar facts, despite our repeated appeals, continue to be cynically ignored by the world community and the "civilized" West, as well as hypocritical Western "human rights defenders" and politicians, who try to ignore the numerous crimes of Ukrainian neo-Nazis under any pretext.
Once again, we call on all international organizations to exert influence on official Kiev and develop a set of effective measures to prevent Ukrainian armed formations from using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
It should be noted that, to date, the World Health Organisation has still not adequately assessed the use by the nationalists of medical facilities as strongholds and firing points for combat operations, rather than for the direct purpose of providing medical care.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 17,693 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,371 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 1,360,619 people have already been evacuated, of which 230,267 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 185,369 personal vehicles including 3,007 over the past 24 hours.
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 89 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 2,756,123 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 channel.
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 1,541.2 hectares were checked, including 3.9 hectares, 35 buildings (including 2 hospitals and 2 schools), 1 bridge and 7.6 km of roads during the day. 7,386 explosives were detected and defused, 235 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.
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.
More than 23,000 tonnes of basic necessities and food kits, including baby food and life-saving medicines, have been prepared at collection points.
In the liberated territories, the Russian Armed Forces and military units of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics are creating all the necessary conditions for a peaceful and safe life, providing the population with comprehensive assistance, including unimpeded access to any humanitarian aid.
Since March 2, 20,973.4 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,025 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 3 actions in Kharkov and Kherson regions, as well as in Donetsk People's Republic, during which 245 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On May 19, 6 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kharkov and Zaporozye regions, in Donetsk People's Republics, during which 281 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.