The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) still has not received guarantees of the Russian humanitarian convoy's safe passage via Ukraine's territory, ICRC spokesperson Andre Loersch said in a commentary for Interfax-Ukraine.
The ICRC still needs to receive security guarantees from all conflicting parties, which it is discussing with all parties on a bilateral basis, Loersch said.
While the ICRC prefers to refrain from public comment on the current results of this process, it is doing all it can to obtain these guarantees through bilateral dialogue with the parties involved in the conflict, Loersch said. As soon as it receives these guarantees and sees that all preconditions for the convoy’s safe passage are in place, it will declare this and will start the humanitarian operation, he said.
It was reported earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation with ICRC President Peter Maurer on Tuesday. The parties “agreed to take vigorous measures within the next few hours to settle the issue of the soonest possible start of the delivery of the Russian humanitarian cargo to its destination point,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Russia and the militia have fully guaranteed all aspects of providing the security of the humanitarian convoy and the ICRC personnel involved in the operation. At the same time, the necessary security guarantees of the convoy’s passage and the ensuing distribution of the humanitarian aid have still not been received from the Ukrainian side. Russia initially gave its consent to the humanitarian convoy’s route proposed by Kyiv. However, Ukraine later suggested changing it, as it was not sure of its ability to guarantee safety of the humanitarian aid’s passage. We have given our consent to this,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine was willing to guarantee the security of the Russian convoy on territories controlled by Ukrainian government forces.
