You're reading: Lavrov: Moscow supports forming humanitarian mission for southeastern Ukraine

Russia will propose international structures to form a humanitarian mission soon for southeastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We will soon form certain proposals for the UN and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the appeal to form as quickly as possible a humanitarian mission for southeastern Ukraine,” Lavrov said at a news conference in Dushanbe.

Lavrov said that Moscow is inviting national institutions of individual countries to contribute to the mission in natural as well financial forms.

“In our case it is the Emergency Situations’ Ministry and I am convinced that other countries have mechanisms and agencies that can help in this case,” he added.

“A humanitarian catastrophe [in Ukraine] is apparent,” he said. He pointed out the number of refugees from Luhansk and Donetsk regions who flee from Ukraine primarily to Russia where they say what horrors they had to experience.

The minister said that the refugees as well as wounded Ukrainian military men finding themselves in Russian territory receive due assistance.