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Geneva (ICRC) - A team of 11 staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including one doctor, is ready in Donetsk to visit any prisoners of war held in the area, including at the Olenivka penal facility. Their mission would be to check on the conditions of internment and treatment, deliver essential supplies, and ensure the prisoners of war can contact their families.

The intense hostilities in the area today underscore the dangers involved and how difficult this mission has been to fulfill. Our team has been ready for months, but to this day does not have at the same time both the minimal security guarantees on the ground and the local authorisation to conduct a visit.

This is emblematic of a wider and unacceptable fact: today, the ICRC still does not have unimpeded and repeated access to all prisoners of war in this international armed conflict. This is despite nearly eight months of persistent demands by our teams to visit all places of detention and internment.

Blaming the ICRC for being denied full and immediate access does not help prisoners of war or their families. The ones who can make a difference for prisoners of war in any international armed conflict are the States involved and the detaining authorities. They are the ones obliged to treat them humanely in line with the Geneva Conventions and to give the ICRC access to all of them.

Prisoners of war are entitled to receive regular visits from delegates of the ICRC under the Third Geneva Convention. In any armed conflict, when we visit prisoners of war we give them and their families the emotional lifeline of keeping in touch with one another. We provide ongoing essential care such as medical assistance.

We share our findings and recommendations for concrete improvements to their treatment and internment conditions confidentially and directly with the authorities. Prisoners of war and their families deserve that glimmer of hope and humanity in the agony of armed conflict.

Any actions we take whether in public or behind closed doors are guided by one priority: the lives, integrity, and wellbeing of prisoners of war. Our determination is undimmed. We will never stop demanding access to prisoners of war until we are able to see all of them not just once, but repeatedly, wherever they are held.

Note to editors and producers:

Established in 1863, the ICRC operates worldwide, helping people affected by armed conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war. A neutral, independent and impartial organization, its mandate stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. it is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and works in more than 100 countries.
The ICRC has been working in Ukraine since 2014 with a team of over 600 staff members. Working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and our Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners, we are increasing our response to the vast and growing humanitarian needs in Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict: ICRC asks for immediate and unimpeded access to all prisoners of war

Geneva (ICRC)We share the frustration regarding our lack of access to all prisoners of war (POWs) held in the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We have been working since February to obtain access to check on the conditions and treatment of POWs and keep their families informed about their loved ones. We have been able to visit hundreds of POWs but there are thousands more who we have not been able to see.

The Third Geneva Convention obliges parties to an international armed conflict to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) immediate access to all POWs, and the right to visit them wherever they are held.

We want to stress that our teams are ready on the groundand have been ready for monthsto visit the Olenivka penal facility and any other location where POWs are held. However, beyond being granted access by high levels of authority, this requires practical arrangements to materialize on the ground. We cannot access by force a place of detention or internment where we have not been admitted.

All States have committed to respect the Geneva Conventions. Giving the ICRC access to visit prisoners of war is a legal obligation. It also helps preserve humanity in an international armed conflict that has created immeasurable loss for countless families.

Our mission can only be achieved through coordinated efforts with parties to the armed conflict. And we ask them and the international community to support the role we have been given.

Note to editors and producers:

Established in 1863, the ICRC operates worldwide, helping people affected by armed conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war. A neutral, independent and impartial organization, its mandate stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. it is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and works in more than 100 countries.
The ICRC has been working in Ukraine since 2014 with a team of over 600 staff members. Working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and our Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners, we are increasing our response to the vast and growing humanitarian needs in Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine: Civilian lives and infrastructure must be protected

Geneva (ICRC) - As the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is putting the lives of civilians in peril. The impact of the recent attacks across Ukraine, and the armed conflict overall, continue to have the largest effect on the most vulnerable children, the elderly, and those who are sick, wounded, or disabled. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned that the number of civilians killed and injured could increase.

The use of explosive weapons in populated areas causes life-threatening injuries, mental and psychological harm, as well as severe damage to civilian property and infrastructure, and disruption of services essential for the civilian population, including water, electricity, sanitation, and health care. The disruption of these services ahead of/during the winter season can significantly increase humanitarian needs.

Under international humanitarian law, the effects of hostilities on civilians and civilian infrastructure must be factored into all military operations. All possible measures must be taken to protect and spare civilian life and essential infrastructure like health facilities, housing, schools, power plants, and water supplies.

Explosive weapons with a wide impact area should be avoided in populated areas unless sufficient mitigation measures are taken to limit their wide-area effects and the consequent risk of civilian harm.

Clarification on ICRC's work in Ukraine

The ICRC team in Ukraine is not suspending any operations on the ground.

Our teams remain in the country and will continue their activities, while adapting to the deteriorating security situation as required.