The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine is one of the largest missions in its history, ICRC Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Ariane Bauer said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"For us, what we call the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine [this is how the organization calls Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine] is one of the largest operations we are conducting in the ICRC, perhaps in its history. This is the largest budget. About UAH 13 billion was spent last year," she said.

According to her, the mission has about 800 employees working in Ukraine (including 650 Ukrainian employees and 150 foreigners).

Bauer noted "a lot of work" in the area of water and sanitation. "We helped the authorities restore the water pipes, which are used by over 10 million people. We have restored and installed heating systems, gas pipelines and power networks, also serving hundreds of thousands of people. We are distributing food and hygiene kits to those in need, since the conflict escalated on February 24, 2022, about 1 million people have been provided with this kind of assistance," she said.

According to her, the ICRC provides financial assistance, it was used by about 300,000 people for a total of UAH 4.5 billion. "We support more than 170 hospitals in Ukraine, and also help the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, in particular, we distributed about 40,000 mine hazard signs," Bauer said.

Among the examples, she also named the work with the Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination in Ukraine on the handling of the bodies of the killed. "I was just in Dnipro right now, where we conducted training for various bodies working in the frontline areas that deal with the treatment of the dead. This is also a very important part of our work," Bauer said.