Red Cross CEO will visit Russia: wants to discuss extension of access to Ukrainian prisoners of war

CEO of the International Committee of the Red Cross Robert Mardini plans to visit Russia and discuss the expansion of access to Ukrainian prisoners of war. He said this in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. Mardini is now in Ukraine and, he said, has already met with families of Ukrainian prisoners of war. It wants to go to the Russian Federation approximately two weeks. Video of the Day "I will ask about the possibility of meeting with officials.

I intend to discuss humanitarian issues, including access to prisoners of war . . . Believe me, all of them [families of prisoners of war] are waiting for news about their relatives with great anxiety, ”the ICCH CEO said. He added that his goal is to demand more access to Ukrainian fighters who are captured and greater humanitarian access to the territory of temporarily uncontrollable Ukraine.

Earlier, Mardini said that the International Committee of the Red Cross managed to visit only a few hundred prisoners of war on both sides. On August 30, the Verkhovna Rada approved an appeal to the world community to condemn the mass murder by Russian invaders of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka, Donetsk region on July 29.

The Association of Families of the Azovstal Defenders appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN, calling for a court to prevent Ukrainian military in Mariupol. On June 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that there are more than 2. 5 thousand defenders of Mariupol from the Azovstal plant in Russian captivity. According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian Truth, 2449 defenders left the territory of Azovstal, kept in Occupied Olenivka.