Yermak: “Not a single representative of the Red Cross has visited a single Ukrainian prisoner”
26 February 2024 12:26
The International Red Cross has not been able to help a single Ukrainian prisoner of war during the two years of full-scale war. This was stated during the forum “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum, the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, said, according to 
“Unfortunately, these issues were beyond the capacity of the existing global infrastructure. It’s hard to believe, but it’s a fact: not a single Red Cross representative has reached any of our prisoners. I think this is a verdict on this organisation. The situation is the same with our children,”
– yermak said.
The Red Cross
TheInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC ), or simply the Red Cross, is an organisation that protects victims of any military conflict. It is a private humanitarian organisation, but it has unique powers granted to it by the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims. The organisation’s budget is about 2 billion Swiss francs.
Over the past two years, Ukrainian society and the government have repeatedly criticised the Red Cross and accused it of inaction. For example, President Zelensky unsuccessfully called on the ICRC to provide access to Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Olenivka.
In October 2023, the Red Cross instead published “rules of war” for hackers, and in February 2024, it reported that 23,000 people had gone missing in the two years of war in Ukraine. The ICRC itself reports that it has helped 8,000 families learn about the fate of their loved ones.
