GENEVA. – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced yesterday that it is investigating the disappearance of 23,000 people during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that erupted nearly two years ago.
Not receiving news from a loved one is a real torture, a constant torment. “This is the tragic reality of tens of thousands of family members,” said Dusan Vujasanin, head of the ICRC Central Tracing Agency office, in March 2022 in the context of the conflict was set up.
They have the right to know what happened to them and to communicate with them to the extent possible,” added the head of this office, which searches for missing people from both sides “who have been captured, murdered or separated from their relatives .” ” through the battles.
“In the last two years, the ICRC has received more than 115,000 requests to locate family members in Ukraine and Russia,” the institution said.
As of January 31, 2024, the ICRC (…) has helped 8,000 families obtain information about the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones,” it said in a statement.
In this regard, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky assured that Russia is taking advantage of the delays in extending aid to his country and that the situation in the areas where the invading troops are concentrated is complicated.
“Now there is an extremely difficult situation in several parts of the front, exactly where Russian troops have concentrated their maximum reserves,” Zelensky said in a video after a visit to frontline areas in the northeast.
They are taking advantage of the delays in aid to Ukraine, and this is a very sensitive matter. The lack of artillery, the need for front-line air defense and longer-range weapons,” he added.
Similarly, neighboring Ukrainian cities fear occupation by the Russians after the fall of Avdiivka. A few kilometers from the lost Ukrainian fortress, near the village of Progress, local troops are building new defense lines.
The last shop in town is still open, although its windows were blown out by the bombing.
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