Red Cross begins the evacuation of civilians from Sumy, a town surrounded by Russian forces

Two convoys of 80 buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began evacuation of civilians in the surrounding city of Sumy todayin northeastern Ukraine, the humanitarian organization reported today.

The convoys began to leave Sumy around 4:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. GMT), in a joint operation with the Ukrainian Red Cross, ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson said in Geneva, who expressed his hope that the operation will not have to stop due to the resumption of hostilities, as has happened previously in Mariupol.

The convoys are destined for the Ukrainian town of Lubny200 kilometers to the southwest.

Sumy has been bombed several times by Russian forces and is close to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city and also the target of numerous attacks since the start of the war.

“Hundreds of civilians are trying to get on the buses and from the ICRC we will try to escort their country through the front line taking them to a safe area,” said a member of the organization present at the evacuation, Erik Tollefsen.

“The dimension of the humanitarian catastrophe is immeasurable,” he insisted.

The spokesman in Geneva stressed that the humanitarian situation is desperate in Mariupol (southeast), surrounded by Russian military forces and where several attempts to evacuate civilians have failed due to the violation of temporary agreements to cease hostilities that Russia and Ukraine had reached. to this end.

The ICRC has not been able to get to this city the help that the besieged population so urgently needs, confirmed Watson.

The official source insisted that the ICRC acts as a facilitator and not as a guarantor of the evacuation agreements. (I)