Ukraine urges Red Cross to refrain from opening office in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don

Ukraine has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) not to open an office in the Russian port city of Rostov-on-Don, saying the move would legitimise the forced deportation and abduction of Ukrainians during the ongoing war.

Mykhailo Radutskyi, the Ukrainian Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Nation Health, appealed to the ICRC to refrain from opening the office in Rostov-on-Don.

“The Committee calls on the International Committee of the Red Cross that it would not legitimise ‘humanitarian corridors’ on the territory of the Russian Federation as well as that it would not support the abduction of Ukrainians and its forced deportation,” Radutskyi said.

The ICRC has yet to make a statement in response to the appeal, Reuters reported on Sunday.

Russia has used Rostov-on-Don, the largest city near Ukraine’s eastern border, to temporarily accommodate people displaced from the conflict zone.