International Red Cross preparing for safe passage of civilians from Mariupol

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - The International Red Cross said Thursday its teams are traveling with relief items and medical supplies to be ready to facilitate the safe passage of civilians trapped for weeks in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“For logistics and security reasons, we’ll be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time, and the duration,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

“It’s desperately important that this operation takes place. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it."

Around 160,000 civilians are trapped in Mariupol, the mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city had said on Monday.

“Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people in Mariupol. The figure is over 100,000. According to our estimates, around 160,000 civilians are in the city,” Vadym Boychenko said on local television.

He described the Russian military’s actions as a “genocide of people in Mariupol.”

With no electricity, heating, and water supplies, Boychenko said it was now impossible to live in Mariupol.

- Promise of corridor

The Russians had promised to open a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol, but they are the ones preventing it, the mayor had said.

According to the UN, at least 1,232 civilians have been killed and 1,935 injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war on its neighbor on Feb. 24, but the actual figure is likely far higher.

The ICRC said Wednesday that its warehouse in Mariupol had been damaged in an attack, but it did not have a team there.

It said: "Under international humanitarian law, objects used for humanitarian relief operations must be respected and protected at all times."

The ICRC also expressed concern that even a building with a red cross on it can be seriously damaged.

Civilian infrastructure, hospitals, and medical personnel cannot be targeted, said the Red Cross.

“But what we are most outraged by is the overall humanitarian situation in Mariupol and the relentless suffering inflicted on civilians living there.

“People are trapped with no safe way out of the city, and they are running out of the very basics needed for their survival. This must change.”