Red Cross flags dire conditions in east Ukraine as tensions flare anew with Russia

FILE PHOTO: Local residents gather near a cargo trailer loaded with boxes containing food and personal hygiene products during the distribution of humanitarian aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Ukraine are living in dire conditions, with poor access to basic services and under constant threat from shelling and landmines, the Red Cross said on Wednesday, amid escalating tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.

With countries heavily focused just now on the massing of Russian troops along Ukraine's borders, there is a serious risk of them ignoring the ongoing plight of people stuck since 2014 in the crossfire between Kyiv's forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, it said.