Ukraine invites UN, Red Cross to Kyiv-held part of Kursk Oblast

Editor’s note: The article was updated with comments from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov for TASS.
Ukraine invited the U.N. and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to “join humanitarian efforts” in the Kyiv-held parts of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sept. 16.
Sybiha instructed the ministry to send out the invitation during his official visit to Sumy Oblast on Sept. 15.
Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in early August, reportedly seizing around 100 settlements and 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of territory. The Ukrainian positions in the region are now threatened by a Russian counterattack launched last week.
“Since the first day of the Kursk operation, Ukraine’s Defense Forces demonstrated full adherence to international humanitarian law as a professional army with high standards and values of freedom and human life,” Sybiha said on X.
“Ukraine is ready to facilitate (the U.N.’s and the ICRC’s humanitarian) work and prove its adherence to international humanitarian law.”
Moscow has denounced the move as provocation.
“We expect that such provocative statements will not be acknowledged by the recipients. This is pure provocation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state-owned news agency TASS.
Kyiv previously said it would follow international humanitarian law during its conduct on Russian territory. Then-Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Aug. 14 that her office opened a “24-hour hotline for residents of Kursk Oblast who need humanitarian aid or want to evacuate to Ukraine.”
The ICRC has come under criticism from Kyiv over its supposedly insufficient response to the humanitarian crisis sparked by Russia’s war.
The Russian branch of the Red Cross was accused of links to the Russian government and of operating in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Since national branches are permitted to operate only within their host country, this may have constituted a violation of the ICRC’s guidelines.
Three Red Cross employees were killed and two injured during a Russian artillery attack on Viroliubivka in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 12, leading to the ICRC suspending the operations of its Dnipro office.