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Russian Aid Convoy Leaves Ukraine

Gabe Joselow

Last updated on: August 23, 2014 1:07 PM

KYIV— A large convoy of Russian trucks that Moscow said was carrying humanitarian aid to a rebel-held area of war-torn eastern Ukraine has returned across the border.

More than 200 white trucks left Ukraine Saturday, after making a stop in the city of Luhansk, which is occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

The unauthorized Russian convoy rankled officials in Ukraine, who said they were only able to inspect a few of the trucks before their crossing, and insisted that any Russian-donated aid be distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In the city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, a spokesman for Ukraine's so-called Anti-Terror Operations, Olekseyi Dmitrachkovskiy, accused Russia of using the convoy to bring more supplies to rebels and to cover the tracks of their alleged involvement in the conflict.

"One of their missions was to take away dead Russian fighters,” he said, adding that they also are “stealing machine components and parts produced only in Ukraine.”

Russia has denied that the trucks are doing anything other than providing humanitarian aid for thousands of civilians trapped within intense pockets of fighting between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has monitored the conflict in Ukraine, said observers counted 227 trucks in the convoy returning across the Donetsk Border Crossing Point back into Russia Friday and Saturday.

Ukraine and its western allies condemned the illegal crossing into Ukraine as a provocation, while NATO called it a “direct invasion.”

The Red Cross said the manner in which humanitarian supplies were brought to Luhansk “has complicated” the aid mission in the city.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said they made the decision to move the convoy into Ukraine on Friday because “endless delays” were becoming “intolerable” while aid was urgently needed in the area.

Thousands of people are said to be lacking water, food and medicine in Luhansk, which has been the site of some of the heaviest fighting between Ukrainian and separatist forces.

Merkel in Kyiv

In another development Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kyiv for talks with President Petro Poroshenko. In a statement, she said she would advise the president that the conflict in Ukraine must be solved through political means and that a cease-fire should be reached immediately.

Poroshenko is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union officials in Belarus Tuesday to discuss the conflict in the east as well as an ongoing dispute about Russian natural gas supplies.

The German chancellor said she also is pushing for a renewed meeting of the "contact group" of Ukrainian, Russian and international officials with representatives from Ukraine's different regions.

Ukraine's territorial integrity is essential, Merkel said, so a critical prerequisite for a cease-fire would be to seal off the border with Russia to prevent weapons and fighters flowing into eastern Ukraine.

"We need a peaceful situation but there's no use if there's an open border with Russia over which arms are coming," she said.

Diplomat Murdered

In another development Saturday, the U.S. State Department expressed shock at reports that Lithuania's Honorary Consul Mykola Zelenec was murdered by separatist groups operating in Luhansk. A statement said the U.S. is seeking information about the abduction and murder.