Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organisations Kirill Logvinov: ▪️ On August 19, 2003, a bomb attack on a hotel in Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian workers, including UN Special Representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello. The unprecedented attack on people carrying out their duty to save the lives of others left a deep mark far beyond the professional humanitarian community. To raise public awareness of humanitarian assistance, the importance of multilateral cooperation in this field and the inviolability of humanitarian ideals, in 2008 the UN General Assembly, by Resolution 63/139, proclaimed August 19 World Humanitarian Day. More than 250 million people worldwide are in need of assistance. The broad capabilities of the UN’s humanitarian system are mobilised to help meet at least part of these needs. 🇷🇺 Russia is an active participant in humanitarian operations. The expertise and experience of Russian search-and-rescue teams are widely sought in responding to natural disasters and rescuing those affected, while Russian medical teams rapidly deploy mobile hospitals on the ground. #RussiaHelps 🤝 Since the beginning of 2026 alone, Russian humanitarian supplies have been delivered to Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Mali, Palestine, Tajikistan and Cuba. These efforts have been carried out both bilaterally and through specialised international organisations, including the #UN system and our key partner, the World Food Programme. Regional authorities and Russian NGOs also play an important role in our humanitarian efforts. Russia provides assistance to third countries with the consent of and in close coordination with the governments of recipient states, and in accordance with the core principles of humanitarian response – neutrality, humanity, impartiality and independence. These principles are enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182. We consistently uphold their inviolability at the UN and oppose attempts by the global minority to turn humanitarian assistance into an instrument of political pressure and interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.