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.
Director General of the National Children’s Specialized Hospital “Okhmatdet” Volodymyr Zhovnir has been suspended from duty, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said.
“Zhovnir is suspended from his duties until the completion of inspections by the National Police of Ukraine, other law enforcement agencies and a commission of the Ministry of Health,” Lyashko wrote in Telegram on Saturday.
“About further decisions will be reported additionally, including personnel decisions. My position – the acting should be a person from the heads of departments, who will receive the greatest support of colleagues. Now I am holding consultations,” he added.
According to the Minister, the facts related to the restoration of buildings Okhmatdet after the missile attack and the actions of the Charitable organization “Charitable Foundation ‘Okhmatdet’ – healthy childhood” are being studied by the National Police, there is a pre-trial investigation, investigation of the NABU and internal inspection of the Ministry of Health.
UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay has arrived in Ukraine, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Japarova said.
“As the head of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, I am honored to welcome Audrey Azoulay to Kiev. The visit of the UNESCO Director General is a huge sign of support for our efforts to protect and restore culture, education, science, youth, sports and media in Ukraine. These issues are on the agenda today,” she wrote on Twitter.
The IAEA Director General announced the end of his “long-awaited” visit to the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and the establishment of a permanent presence of the agency at the plant.
“I have just completed the first tour of the key locations we wanted to see in this first approach to the entire facility. Of course, there is still a lot to be done. My team remains, and most importantly, we establish our permanent presence from the IAEA here,” he said in a video from ZNPP posted on his Twitter.
Earlier, Energoatom, which includes Zaporizhia NPP, reported that as of 18:00 on Thursday, Grossi had left the station. Most of the members of the delegation left the station with him.
According to Energoatom, five representatives of the IAEA mission remained at the ZNPP, who are unloading the equipment they brought and will continue to work at the plant.
The IAEA mission arrived at the ZNPP captured by Russian troops on September 1, approximately after 14:00. According to the statements of the occupying authorities, the IAEA experts who left the station “should leave the territory controlled by the Russian Federation before 20:00.”
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called Wednesday meetings with high-ranking representatives of the Ukrainian government at the South Ukrainian NPP (SUNPP) very productive and announced the imminent arrival of experts at Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
“Teams of experts and additional safety equipment will arrive at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities very soon,” he tweeted at the end of the day.
The daily report of the organization indicates that at meetings with the Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko, the heads of the nuclear regulator of Ukraine SNRIU Oleg Korikov and NNEGC “Energoatom” Petr Kotin, as well as the director of the South Ukraine NPP Igor Polovich, specific steps were considered to provide urgent assistance to Ukraine in protecting its nuclear facilities.
As reported, on March 30, Grossi visited South Ukraine NPP, where he met with representatives of the Ukrainian side. At a meeting with plant workers, he noted that the issue of the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhya NPPs “needs to be considered at different levels,” and it depends on the ceasefire agreements.
Founder of UFuture Investment Group Vasyl Khmelnytsky has appointed Frenchman Dominique Piotet to be Director General of UNIT.City innovation park, reads a press announcement from the company. Following the report, Khmelnytsky will inform about the plans for the development of the innovation park and changes in its management structure together with UNIT.City managing partners, Maksym Yakover and Maksym Bakhmatov, along with new CEO Dominique Piotet.
As reported, UFuture plans within 2019 to increase the investments into various businesses by 20%, up to $60 million.
UNIT.City was officially opened in April 2017 in the territory of the former Kyiv Motorcycle Plant. The co-working space Chasopys-UNIT, the IT school UNIT Factory, three laboratories, a business campus, a foundation and five accelerators are located in its territory.
DIRECTOR GENERAL, DOMINIQUE PIOTET, UFUTURE, UNIT.CITY, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY
