At 12 noon today, the "Shchastia" checkpoint was shelled from the occupied territory of the Luhansk region.
According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Mikhail Zaluzhny, 12 vehicles of the humanitarian convoy of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were at the checkpoint, returning from the non-controlled territories, where they delivered the cargo the day before.
"The shelling came from a large-caliber machine gun (about 50 shots), 82 mm mortar (3 shots), AGS-17 grenade launcher (10 shots) from Veselaya Gora settlement. Four vehicles from the humanitarian convoy passed through the checkpoint and people were evacuated to shelter. Eight vehicles remained in the inter-positioning zone.
There were no casualties among civilians or members of the United Forces," reports the Commander-in-Chief.
Zaluzhnyi stressed that the shelling is another "gross violation of international humanitarian law and the Minsk agreements by the Russian occupation troops. The personnel of the United Forces are taking all measures to protect civilians.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) denied the shelling of its convoy in Donbas. The organization stressed that in the area of the checkpoint "Shchastia" their cars were not.
This was reported to RBC-Ukraine by the speaker of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine Alexander Vlasenko.
"This information does not correspond to reality. Our convoys were not in the specified area today," he noted.
Information about the shelling of the humanitarian convoy of the Red Cross appeared in the afternoon of February 18. It was reported that it happened while the organization's vehicles were passing the entry-exit checkpoint (CEP) "Shchastia".
