The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Saturday that the operation to help people flee the besieged city of Mariupol was still ongoing, just hours after Russia declared that it had failed and blamed the organisation.
According to Interfax, Russia’s defence ministry stated that assistance convoys were unable to reach Mariupol on Friday or Saturday due to ‘destructive operations’ by the ICRC.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a Red Cross convoy going to the Ukrainian port turned around on Friday because it was no longer able to carry out its objective to begin evacuating civilians.
‘The humanitarian mission to allow civilians to leave Mariupol safely is still ongoing. On the ground, the situation is fluid and vulnerable to quick change,’ according to an email from an ICRC spokeswoman.
‘Given the ICRC’s duty as a neutral intermediary in a highly complex operation, the ICRC is unable to say further at this time.’
According to Interfax, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, the ICRC demonstrated its incapacity to assist in preparing to evacuate residents from the city.
According to Mizintsev, the convoys left very late on April 1 and 2 owing to Red Cross efforts and were unable to reach Mariupol on time.
According to him, ICRC staff made unscheduled pauses en route on Friday, and some cars broke away from the main convoy and later returned.
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