News / Russia

Russian aid convoy crosses into eastern Ukraine

Thursday, 19 March 2015 10:57 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 19 March 2015 10:57 AM ]

The trucks from the next column of Emercom of Russia with humanitarian aid for inhabitants of Donbass on the Matveev Kurgan check point in the Rostov region (file photo)

Russia’s new humanitarian aid convoy for Ukrainian civilians has reportedly crossed the Russian border into Ukraine’s restive east.

A representative for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said Thursday that the convoy of more than 170 trucks, carrying 1,900 tons of food, medicine, and construction materials, has crossed the border into eastern Ukraine.

“Emergencies Ministry vehicles with humanitarian aid for Donbas have completed customs at the two border control points of Donetsk and Matveyev Kurgan. All of the vehicles have gone through all of the formalities of customs and border control and have crossed the border [into Ukraine],” the representative said.

The unnamed official stated that the convoy will be divided into two, one heading for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), and the other to the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).

A birch tree split by a shell is seen in the Oktyabrsky district close to Donetsk's international airport in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) on March 14, 2015. (© AFP)

Since August 2014, Russia has dispatched three humanitarian convoys of trucks, carrying food, water, power generators, medication and warm clothes to eastern Ukraine.

Donetsk and Lugansk are two of Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east that have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russians and the Ukrainian army since the government in Kiev launched military operations against the pro-Russians in April 2014.

Violence intensified in May last year after the two flashpoint regions held local referendums in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.

According to the latest figures, over 6,000 people have been killed and about 14,000 others injured in the war.

Western governments accuse Russia of having a hand in the armed confrontation in east Ukraine. Moscow denies that, saying that the Western-backed government in Kiev should stop suppressing the rights of the ethnic Russian population in that part of the country.

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