ICRC hopes for improved COVID-19 situation in Ukraine allowing people to move - President
By :
Notice: Trying to get property 'fName' of non-object in /home/newobserverdawn/public_html/module/Application/view/application/index/news.phtml on line 23
Notice: Trying to get property 'lName' of non-object in /home/newobserverdawn/public_html/module/Application/view/application/index/news.phtml on line 23
Ksenia Shakalova The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is hoping to see an improvement in the COVID-19 situation in eastern Ukraine to give the region's population greater possibilities to move across the lines of contact, Peter Maurer, the committee's president, told Sputnik in an interview.
"I think we have seen major restrictions on crossing the contact lines and restrictions, as everybody knows, have come from both sides. So, we hope that over the last couple of weeks, efforts have been made to be, again, a little bit more open around Stanytsia Luhanska and to create new crossing points," the ICRC president said.
Maurer said that the ICRC will continue to encourage all parties in the conflict in eastern Ukraine to work together to ensure that all those who need assistance, particularly elderly people who need to collect their pensions, are able to receive help with little difficulty.
"We are not yet there but we hope that, as soon as the worst in terms of the pandemic is over, we can have better facilities for people to move. And we continue to encourage the different parties to engage together in order to find solutions which allow those who need pensions, those who need certificates, those who need legal titles to have more practical arrangements," the ICRC president remarked.
Maurer added that the situation in eastern Ukraine remains a high priority for the ICRC, adding that the humanitarian organization is continuing to engage and make proposals to all parties in the region.
The foreign ministries of Germany and France on Friday issued a statement calling on Russia and the administrations of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic to reopen all crossings in the Donetsk region in order to allow people to visit doctors and receive pensions.
Many of the border crossings along the line of contact in Donbas have been closed as part of efforts to curb the the spread of the coronavirus disease.
