On Monday, Ukraine announced that it had requested the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to join humanitarian efforts in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces conducted an incursion in August.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian army now controls around 100 settlements in the Kursk region, a month after initiating the surprise incursion.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russian forces have regained control over two additional villages in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on Sunday that he instructed his ministry to invite the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to work in the Kursk region.
“Ukraine is ready to facilitate their work and act in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Sybiha wrote on X during a visit to Sumy, from where Ukrainian forces launched their attack across the border.
He added that the Ukrainian army is ensuring humanitarian aid and safe passage for civilians in the Kursk region.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that invitations were sent to the UN and ICRC “considering the humanitarian situation and the need to ensure fundamental human rights in the Kursk region.”
It stated that it has requested the ICRC to monitor whether Ukraine is operating in accordance with the principles of international humanitarian law.
It is unclear whether the UN and ICRC have responded.
Russian state news agency TASS cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that such statements are “provocative.”
He made it clear that Moscow, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expects the UN and ICRC to decline the invitations.
