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.
Donetsk People’s Republic: in Bakhmut on the territory of school No. 2, in Chasov Yar in the building of professional school No. 77, in Novoekonomicheskoe in kindergarten Solnyshko and school No. 1, fighters of Ukrainian armed formations have equipped strongholds and placed military equipment and MLRS launchers in the surrounding area. However, the evacuation of the local population from nearby houses has not been deliberate; the Ukrainian neo-Nazis plan to use civilians as human shield.
In Nikolaev, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed artillery guns and multiple rocket launchers in the building of Zvezdochka kindergarten No 141 and on the territory of the shipbuilding lyceum.
In Dnieper, territorial defence fighters have equipped a stronghold, ammunition depot, armoured vehicles and artillery in school 119.
In Putivl, Sumy Region, Ukrainian nationalists have equipped a stronghold in Lyceum No 2 and an after-school centre, while locals are being held in basements under the pretext of ensuring their safety.
These facts once again show the Kiev regime’s complete disregard for all norms of morality and international humanitarian law. At the same time, the USA and European Union countries continue to cynically “turn a blind eye” to the numerous war crimes committed by the Ukrainian authorities, which are not discussed at the state level in Western countries, objective materials in the media sphere are sporadic and any accusations against official Kiev, including in the media, are strictly banned.
In addition, in Nikolaevka, Lugansk People’s Republic, the Kiev regime carried out another sophisticated action to discredit the Russian Armed Forces before the world community. During the provocation, militants of nationalist battalions and AFU serviceme fired artillery shells at residential buildings, killing and injuring civilians. New York Times journalists and Ukrainian journalists accompanying the nationalists filmed and photographed the strikes and their aftermath allegedly carried out by Russian units.
We warn the so-called civilised west in advance that this and other similar bloody fakes on the part of the Kiev authorities about alleged “Russian atrocities” are soon to be widely circulated in the media and on internet resources.
Such actions by the Ukrainian authorities once again demonstrate their total indifference to the fate of Ukrainian civilians.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 18,873 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,282 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 1,396,798 people have already been evacuated, of which 234,762 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 190,822 personal vehicles including 2,274 per day.
We continue to maintain a sufficient number of comfortable buses at checkpoints to transport people to their chosen places of residence or temporary accommodation, where hot meals are provided and qualified medical and psychological assistance is provided in a timely manner.
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 109 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 1,620.09 hectares were checked, including 76.17 hectares, 35 buildings (including 13 socially important facilities), 1 bridge and 9.64 km of roads during the day. 9,255 explosives were detected and defused, 1,629 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.
Since March 2, 21,580.4 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 1,039 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 8 actions in Kherson, Zaparozhye and Kharkov regions, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, during which 326 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On May 21, 5 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kharkov and Zaporozye regions, in Donetsk People’s Republics, during which 290 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.
WtR