The Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC) expressed concern over the humanitarian situation that has developed in the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula due to the spread of coronavirus infection.

The statement of the Representative Office, published on Facebook, notes that despite the policy of restricting the dissemination of information carried out by the occupation administrations and the Russian Federation, through the monitoring of open sources, social networks, communication with Crimean residents and analysis of appeals to the Office, it became known about a number of the most difficult pandemic-related challenges.

Thus, according to the Representative Office, in Crimea, there is a lack of beds in hospitals for the treatment of patients with COVID-19, even seriously ill patients receive refusals of hospitalization. Patients with COVID-19 are moved from hospitals to resort facilities, where they are left without medical supervision.

There is no opportunity to undergo a medical examination or testing of your own free will. There is no access to ambulance (the time of arrival of an ambulance reaches 15 hours). Pharmacies do not have any essential drugs to treat COVID-19, which makes home treatment impossible. In addition, the incidence statistics are distorted by the occupying administrations.

The population lacks objective information about the risks associated with COVID-19, and compliance with the rules for the use of personal protective equipment and quarantine measures in public places is not properly monitored.

"In this regard, the Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea condemns the actions of the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation and considers it necessary to respond to the challenges associated with the humanitarian crisis in the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, in connection with the spread of the coronavirus infection COVID-19," the Office emphasizes.

As a possible reaction, it is proposed to organize access for Ukrainian citizens living in the occupied territory of Crimea to online consultations with family doctors, as well as the approach of pharmacies with necessary medications to the checkpoints and increased attention of international partners to the violation by the Russian Federation of its obligations to protect civilians ... Ukrainian law enforcement agencies should, in turn, ensure that the corresponding violations by representatives of the occupying state are documented.