KIEV, October 8. /TASS/. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) does not intend to reduce its presence in Ukraine and is ready to continue the humanitarian mission in the east of the country, head of Operations for Europe and Central Asia Laurent Corbaz said at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said during the meeting, Klimkin noted the importance of further ICRC activities in Ukraine, including humanitarian deliveries to the east.

“The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission is planning to increase its presence in Ukraine. This will facilitate increasing the safe activity of the Committee’s representatives,” Klimkin said.

He expressed deep regret with and conveyed his condolences on the death of an ICRC staff member during the shelling of the Committee’s office in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

“Ukraine will do everything possible to determine the circumstances of the tragic incident and bring guilty persons to responsibility,” he said.

Red Cross employee dies in a shelling attack on eatern Ukraine's Donetsk

Laurent DuPasquier, 38-year-old Swiss national, working as an administrator in the Donetsk city Red Cross office, was killed on October 2 in a shell attack of the Ukrainian army. Mr. DuPasquier worked for the ICRC for more than five years, carrying out assignments in Pakistan, Yemen, Haiti, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. He started his posting in Ukraine six weeks before he was killed.

The ICRC has about 20 staff in Donetsk, including five expatriates of various nationalities.