Three Red Cross staff members were killed by artillery strikes in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk on Thursday, the organization said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “another war crime.”
“Today, the occupier attacked vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian mission in the Donetsk region,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “As of now, we know of two injured people who are receiving all necessary assistance. Unfortunately, three people were killed in this Russian strike. My deepest condolences to their families and friends.”
“In this war, everything is absolutely clear—Russia sows evil, Ukraine defends life,” Zelensky’s post added.
The strikes, which left two others wounded, hit a Red Cross truck that was delivering firewood in the war-divided Donetsk region, the organization said.
Image released by the Police of the Donetsk Region that shows a police officer looking at a burning Red Cross vehicle that was destroyed in a Russian strike in the Donetsk region on Thursday Sept. 12, 2024.
Police of the Donetsk Region via AP
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) directed Newsweek to a statement it issued this week saying: “Three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed on Thursday after shelling hit the site of a planned front line aid distribution in the Donetsk region. Two additional ICRC staff members were wounded.”
ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said “I condemn attacks on Red Cross personnel in the strongest terms. It’s unconscionable that shelling would hit an aid distribution site. Our hearts are broken today as we mourn the loss of our colleagues and care for the injured. This tragedy unleashes a wave of grief all too familiar to those who have lost loved ones in armed conflict.”
In a post on Telegram, Viroliubivka regional governor Vadym Filashkin said, “Another blow to the Kostyantynivska community—3 people were killed and 2 wounded in Virolyubivka.”
Ukrainian emergency services carry out a search and rescue operation among the rubble of a destroyed hotel after a strike in the town of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region on Aug. 25, 2024. On Sept. 12, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of attacking a Red Cross convoy in Donetsk.
GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images
“The village came under artillery fire this morning. One of the shells hit the territory of the enterprise where people were. A truck with humanitarian aid and a car were destroyed,” Filashkin said. “In addition, the private sector of Kostyantynivka was again under attack—7 houses and a power line were damaged there.”
In recent weeks, Ukraine has launched its own offensive operation in the Russian border region of Kursk. On Tuesday, Ukraine said that Russian forces lost almost 1,400 fighters and 50 artillery systems in the past day.
Moscow sustained 1,380 casualties between Monday and Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities said, bringing Kyiv’s tally of total Russian casualties to 627,790. Updated figures from Ukraine on Tuesday put Russia’s artillery losses at 50 over the past day—with a total of 17,880 systems lost during Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, which began in February 2022.
