The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is outraged by a recent statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha described the statement as “shameful” and announced diplomatic steps.
On Platform X, Sybiha stated: “A false moral equivalence between the aggressor and the defending state is inadmissible.” Unlike Russia, Ukraine acts in accordance with international humanitarian law and its inalienable right to self-defense.
The accusations from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry were triggered a statement from the ICRCin which Ariane Bauer, ICRC Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, lamented that as a result of the airstrikes “on critical infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia Millions of people in freezing temperatures in KyivDnipro, Belgorod and other areas without electricity, water and heating. Attacks that cause disproportionate harm to the civilian population – including by depriving them of access to vital services such as electricity and heating, which are currently essential for survival, are prohibited, said Ariane Bauer on the ICRC’s official Facebook page.
Doubts about the credibility of the ICRC
The fact that Ukrainian cities such as Kyiv and Dnipro are mentioned in the same breath as the Russian city of Belgorod is causing displeasure in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. One does not want to allow such an equation between the attacker and the victim of the attack. Foreign Minister Sybiha announced that he would summon the head of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine to the Foreign Ministry to explain the organization’s position.
At the same time, the minister expressed doubts about the credibility of the ICRC. Its reputation is in crisis as a result of such statements whitewashing Russian war crimes, as such statements relativize Russian war crimes. This is accompanied by a loss of trust in the organization, the Ukrainian portal korrespondent.net quotes the minister as saying.
In this context, Sybiha pointed to what he saw as the ICRC’s ongoing inability to provide access to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held illegally by Russia. While Ukraine grants the ICRC access to Russian prisoners of war, Russia denies the ICRC access to Ukrainian prisoners. The ICRC also had no access to prisoners captured by the eastern Ukrainian separatists before 2022.
In another statement, Sybiha called on those responsible for the statement to leave their “warm offices” and come to Ukraine themselves. A day in an unheated house could possibly help “to regain a sense of reality,” korrespondent.net quotes the minister as saying.
Attack on the Russian city of Belgorod
On January 9, Ukrainian forces attacked the Belgorod region. This is reported by the Ukrainian service of Deutsche Welle, citing Russian sources. As a result of the attacks, around half a million people in the region were without electricity or heating. Comparable to the situation in Ukraine, where in cities like Kyiv and Odessa millions of people died as a result of Russian air strikes have to live for weeks without heating and only a few hours of electricity a daythat’s not it.