Ukraine summons Red Cross envoy after statement condemning strikes in Russia
Nation15 January, 05:53 PM
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the statement by the ICRC disgraceful. In response, the head of the Red Cross delegation in Ukraine was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for explanations.
“False moral equivalence between the aggressor and the country that is defending itself is unacceptable. Unlike Russia, Ukraine acts in accordance with international humanitarian law and our inherent right to self-defense. It is therefore not surprising that the ICRC’s reputation is in crisis as a result of such statements, which whitewash Russian war crimes and further undermine trust in the organization, especially given its long-standing failure to ensure systematic access to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians illegally detained by Russia,” the statement said.
The minister also invited “those who wrote and approved this statement to leave their comfortable offices, come to Ukraine and spend at least one day in a cold home.”
“Perhaps a sense of reality will return to them,” Sybiha said.
On Jan. 15, Ukraine’s Security Service said that since the start of the heating season Russia has carried out 256 missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and heating systems. Such attacks are a consistent Kremlin policy aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people, the SBU said.
Since early October 2025, Russian forces have deliberately attacked 11 hydroelectric power plants and 45 of Ukraine’s largest combined heat and power plants. Russian troops have also carried out 49 targeted strikes on thermal power plants and 151 on electrical substations in various oblasts of Ukraine.
The highest number of combined strikes on the energy system has been recorded in Kyiv and Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv oblasts.
The SBU called the Kremlin’s policy the systematic destruction of Ukraine’s energy system, which it said constitutes a crime against humanity under international law.