Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine (May 16, 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 Severodonetsk (Lugansk People’s Republic), in the territory of the dermatovenerologic dispensary located at Lomonosova street, the militants of Ukrainian armed groups have deployed firing positions, artillery, multiple rocket launchers and a munitions depot. The hospital staff and all patients were forced to leave the medical facility under threat of physical violence;

in Nelepovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), the AFU units have deployed a strongpoint in the school №19, as well as armament and munitions depot in the adjacent territory;
 
in Sergeevka (Donetsk People’s Republic), the militants of Ukrainian nationalist groups have deployed barracks in the buildings of a school and a kindergarten, as well as artillery mounts near residential areas;

in Svyatogorsk (Donetsk People’s Republic), the militants of a nationalist battalion have deployed a command post, heavy military equipment, artillery mounts and multiple rocket launchers in the territory of a board school located at Lesnaya street. At the same time, the teaching staff and students of the board school are forcibly detained in the basements.

Moreover, in Odessa, the militants of the territorial defense battalions and the personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine visit the residential buildings and private households in order to detect local residents that express pro-Russian opinion as it was carried out earlier in Kharkov, Nikolaev, Sumy, Chernigov and various other localities. Citizens whose phones contain photo- or videographic data related to the results of the neutralised military facilities of Ukraine by the Armed Forces of Russia, conversations in messengers or calls to Russian numbers, are subjected to physical violence and transported in an unknown direction. There is no information about the lives of those people until now.
 
Such actions by Kiev once again demonstrate an inhuman attitude towards the fate of the Ukrainian citizens and show a complete disregard for all norms of morality and international humanitarian law.

We call on the countries of the so-called collective West to stop ‘turning a blind eye’ to these flagrant facts and condemn the war crimes of the Kiev authorities against their own people.

Despite all the difficulties and obstacles posed by Kiev, over the past 24 hours, without the involvement of the Ukrainian authorities, 13,213 people, including 1,543 children, have been evacuated from dangerous areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, a total of 1,307,981 people have been evacuated, including 224,095 children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 177,413 personal vehicles including 3,609 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 117 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 2,755,823 such appeals from 2,135 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.

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, Primorsky Territories, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Tula, Ulyanovsk regions and 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, 20,437.4 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,017 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including three actions in Kharkov and Zaporozhye regions, during which 113 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.

On May 16, 2022, four humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kherson region, in Donetsk People’s Republic, during which 155 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.

WtR