MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) – The International Red Cross has resumed activities in southeastern Ukraine, the organization's liaison officer, Viktoria Zotikova, said Friday.
"Regardless of the tragic death of our colleague, we are continuing to work there. Work was suspended, but we made the decision, nonetheless, and have started working there for a week already. There has been no official announcement that we have resumed our activity, but we have," Zotikova told journalists.
In early October, a Red Cross worker from Switzerland was killed by a shell that landed near the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) office in the city of Donetsk.
The ICRC initially halted its activities in Ukraine for several days but said later it had no plans to wind down its humanitarian mission, according to Laurent Corbaz, ICRC head of operations for Europe and Central Asia.
Russia, the European Union, the United States, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations condemned the death of the Swiss Red Cross worker and called for an in-depth investigation.
The killing took place less than a month after Kiev and independence supporters agreed to a ceasefire with local militias, who are in control of the city. The truce was reached at a Contact Group meeting in Minsk on September 5.
Since the establishment of the ceasefire regime, both parties have repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement.
