Conflict in Ukraine inflicting heavy consequences on people's lives: Red Cross

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – Ongoing conflict in Ukraine continues to inflict heavy humanitarian consequences on people's lives and well-being, their homes, and essential infrastructure, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Wednesday.

In a statement issued on the second day of security talks between the US and Russia that began in Brussels on Monday, Dominik Stillhart, the ICRC's director of operations, said the Ukraine-Russia conflict has been going on for nearly eight years.

“Ukraine may again be a top headline, but it never stopped being one for the people suffering through the fighting,” he said.

The Red Cross supports hundreds of thousands of people living close to the contact line, Stillhart said, adding those people regularly suffer from disrupted access to medical care, food, water, heating, electricity, education, social services, and livelihood opportunities.

The Red Cross official said thousands of civilians and those fighting have been killed, injured, detained, or separated from their loved ones.

“Hundreds of people are still searching for their missing loved ones,” said Stillhart, highlighting one of the tasks of the Red Cross in aiding people in wars to connect with their families.

“Detainees must be treated humanely, in line with what international humanitarian law demands in all armed conflicts,” said Stillhart.

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014, with President Vladimir Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Turkey and the US, as well as the UN General Assembly, view the annexation as illegal.

According to the UN, fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas has seen more than 13,000 people killed since 2014.

The region is one of several sources of friction between Russia and Ukraine.