The information was confirmed this Friday by Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné. Two French humanitarian workers were killed in a Russian strike in Beryslav, southern Ukraine. Three other people were injured. These two French people worked for the NGO Entraide Protestante Suisse (EPER). In a press release, the humanitarian organization “confirms the news” and announces the death of two of its “collaborators” who suffered a “fatal attack” in the south-east of Ukraine on Thursday.
“It is with great sadness that Entraide Protestante Suisse (EPER) confirms the heartbreaking news of a fatal attack which occurred yesterday, Thursday February 1, in the south-east of Ukraine,” specifies the communicated. A group of employees was attacked around 2:30 p.m. during a humanitarian intervention. On this occasion, two of the team’s valued colleagues tragically lost their lives and other employees were injured.”
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The Swiss NGO “expresses its deep sympathy to the families and loved ones of its deceased and injured colleagues” and specifies that it “is working hard to evacuate its injured colleagues safely”. It “strongly condemns this brutal and unjustifiable attack, which constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
EPER is a Swiss NGO of Protestant inspiration, active in around thirty countries. In addition to its purely humanitarian support, the NGO indicates that it “also supports the diaconal work of the Reformed Churches in Eastern Europe and the Middle East”. Its action is guided by four foundations detailed on the website: “climate justice, the right to land and food, asylum and migration, integration”. HEKS employees sometimes provide humanitarian aid on the front lines during armed conflicts, particularly in Ukraine.
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In its latest press release (undated) published on the war in Ukraine, the HEKS paints the picture of the intervention that may have been that of the deceased humanitarian workers. The press release specifies “providing aid within 15km of the front line in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson by distributing basic necessities and specific hygiene kits to women in the regions of Kherson and Odessa or donations in cash and vouchers when possible. He points out that “intensive bombing and fighting along the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine make the delivery of humanitarian aid complex and unpredictable.”
Civilians “fear being targeted at distribution sites,” the document continues. Presence on the front line is limited for security reasons, with exposure time limited in red zones to a maximum of one hour, and less than 30 minutes in difficult-to-access areas. In this context, it is not easy to find people ready to go to the front line and all these difficulties increase the price of interventions.
Beryslav, which had around 12,000 inhabitants before the war, is located on the north bank of the Dnieper River, very close to the front line. The governor of the Kherson region (south), Oleksandr Prokudin, announced Thursday evening on Telegram the death of two French “volunteers” in a Russian strike, and specified that three foreigners and a Ukrainian had been slightly injured. In the process, the Ukrainian national police clarified that the victims were two men of French nationality targeted by a drone attack. Ukrainian police also announced the opening of an investigation into violations of the laws of war.
