Russian forces have twice bombed an empty Red Cross building in Mariupol, Ukraine, according to humanitarian aid and satellite imagery.
The Red Cross confirmed a satellite photo posted on the Internet on Wednesday showing an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warehouse in Mariupol with large holes in its roof showing the symbols of the Red and White Red Cross.
Satellite imagery shows that the north side of the building was first hit between March 19 and 22. The south side of the warehouse was hit again between March 23 and 26.
Satellite Image © 2022 Maxar Technologies.
Alyona Synenko of the Kyiv-based ICRC said the warehouse had been empty of all supplies, including medical equipment and other humanitarian aid, since March 15.
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An ICRC team had distributed all the aid in the warehouse to those who had taken refuge in Mariupol by March 15. The team has not been on the ground since.
“According to international humanitarian law, items used for humanitarian aid must be respected and protected at all times. We are concerned that even a Red Cross building could be severely damaged. Political infrastructure, hospitals and medical staff are not “The parties must do everything in their power to avoid locating military targets in or near densely populated areas and to protect civilians from the effects of the attacks,” the ICRC said in a press release on Wednesday. afternoon.
DEES added that it is “the most outraged”, however, “for the overall humanitarian situation in Mariupol and the relentless suffering caused to the civilians living there”.
“People are trapped without a safe exit from the city and they are running out of basic necessities for their survival. That needs to change,” the organization said.
Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said the incident was called “another war crime” by Russia in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“Until now, the only ones bombing buildings and vehicles marked with red crosses were Hitler’s German troops,” he wrote. “I call on the international community to condemn the barbaric acts of the occupying country by bombing the ICC building and to take steps to end the bloody war on Ukrainian soil as soon as possible.”
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It is not clear whether some residents of Mariupol were sheltering in the empty building at the time of the attack. The group had no casualties until Wednesday afternoon.
Russian forces have destroyed Mariupol, a strategically located port along the Black Sea near Crimea, since Russian President Vladimir Putin began invading the country on February 24. The residents of Mariupol have been left without electricity, gas, food, water, internet and mobile phone service.
