The Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Pierre Krehhenbühl, has arrived in Ukraine and will spend the next few days in Lviv and Kyiv.
According to the ICRC press service, Krehhenbühl will hold meetings with Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Red Cross.
“Mr. Krehhenbühl is visiting Ukraine during one of the harshest winters in recent years, when critical infrastructure across the country is suffering extensive damage from strikes. For many people across Ukraine, the consequences of these attacks on electricity and heating systems are extremely severe. Mr. Krechenbühl will meet with workers who are involved in the ongoing support provided by the ICRC, particularly to frontline communities,” the statement said.
During his visit, Krechenbühl will also meet with families of those who are missing, presumed or confirmed dead in combat or captured, to listen to these families and give them an opportunity to ask questions.
Together with the head of the delegation in Ukraine, Juan Pedro Scherer, he will meet with medical staff and patients at two facilities supported by the ICRC: the Burn Center of Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 2 and the Rehabilitation Department of Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital. Krehhenbühl will also visit the Single Center for the Identification of Deceased Persons in the village of Tsybli, Kyiv region, which also receives support from the ICRC.
Since February 2022, the ICRC has increased the scope of its activities. During the winter season of 2025-2026, this assistance included: Cash assistance to more than 18,000 residents of frontline areas to purchase essential items before the onset of winter; Support for critical heating infrastructure, in particular the Mykolaiv and Kherson thermal power plants, the Teplokommunenergo municipal enterprise in Chernihiv, and municipal heating companies in Zelenodolsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, which provide heat to around 435,000 people; 35 providers of essential services, including 10 hospitals, received 2,635 tons of fuel briquettes to ensure heat supply during the winter.
The ICRC has been active in Ukraine since 2014 and currently has more than 750 staff working throughout the country.
