Cumulative promises of humanitarian aid with military support to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia threaten the neutrality required by aid groups to operate safely there and elsewhere, said ICRC Operations Director Dominik Stillhart.
“When communicating in public, do not concentrate humanitarian action with the rest of the political support you offer to Ukraine,” Stilhart said in an interview Sunday.
“The danger is that humanitarian action could be seen as a tool or a weapon to support one side or the other.”
Although Stilhart did not name specific examples, Prime Minister Justin Trinto announced on Thursday $ 50 million in additional humanitarian aid to Ukraine, along with new sanctions against 160 Russian officials.
Trinto was scheduled to meet Sunday with members of the Ukrainian-Canadian community in Montreal.
Canada has so far committed about $ 180 million in humanitarian and development aid to Ukraine since January, with about $ 30 million going to the ICC and Stilhart predicting more in the near future.
Stilhart said his organization is grateful for Canada’s contribution.  At the same time, he said he understood that the government wanted to show support for Ukrainians in times of need and that it did not criticize them for choosing a side in the conflict.
“But what is important is that humanitarian action is not concentrated in the war effort,” he said.  “There is always a tendency to say, ‘Our country is helping Ukraine militarily, delivering weapons and humanitarian aid.’
ICRC President Peter Maurer was in Moscow last week to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on protecting civilians in Ukraine.  The visit followed a similar stance in Kyiv for meetings with Ukrainian officials.
While the ICRC has since seen questions about Maurer’s visit to Moscow, including from members of Canada’s large Ukrainian diaspora, Stilhart said the ability to talk to both sides is crucial to the protection of lives.
“For them, it’s obviously difficult to understand because they feel attacked and neutrality is a difficult concept if attacked,” Stilhart said.
“And yet it is important, no doubt for the Ukrainian diaspora here, to understand that remaining neutral in a conflict allows you to operate in the most difficult places.”
However, Stilhart acknowledged that Russia had specifically refused to cooperate in securing the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and other cities besieged by Russian forces in Ukraine.
“I would like to see more co-operation from both sides, but especially from the Russian side,” he said.  “There is zero trust, but we need to see more cooperation from both sides, and I will say mainly from the Russian side.”
Russia has been accused of deliberately targeting civilians, especially as what was supposed to be a rapid invasion turned into heavy casualties as a result of poor planning and dynamic defense by Ukrainian forces.
Stilhart painted a frightening picture of ICRC teams trying unsuccessfully to evacuate civilians on several occasions, only to be turned around and sent back for cover as a result of bombings and other attacks.
“We had shells that landed less than 50 meters from the road where we started escorting an escort out of Mariupol and it just had to turn because it was not safe,” he said.
The ICC has since withdrawn its personnel from Mariupol, the besieged city in southeastern Ukraine, where an estimated 100,000 Ukrainians remain trapped even as Russian artillery and rocket attacks continue to strike.
“This group also ran out of food, water … they spent a lot of time in shelters with families who had taken refuge with them,” he said.  “And in the end they just couldn’t take it anymore and they had to find their way. The testimonies are really scary.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on March 27, 2022.


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