Russia dispatches aid convoy to eastern Ukraine
Iran Press TV
Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:41PM GMT
Russia has dispatched its fourth relief aid convoy to the volatile eastern regions of Ukraine.
Russia's Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said on Tuesday that the shipment is expected to arrive in Russia's Rostov Province, which borders Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, on Wednesday.
He also raised concern over the living conditions of eastern Ukrainian residents, saying, 'Winter is coming, it will be difficult for them to survive."
According to reports, the convoy, which consists of 100 trucks, contains 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies including food, medicine and bottled water.
In reaction to the news, Andrei Tsymbalyuk, an adviser of the Ukrainian permanent mission to the United Nations, said Kiev considers the act of sending another aid convoy to Ukraine by Russia as a "violation of the UN Charter."
Since August, Moscow has delivered some 6,000 tons of aid in the form of three convoys of trucks to Ukraine's crisis-hit parts.
Russia says it is acting in coordination with the Red Cross, but the humanitarian institution claims that it has nothing to do with the delivery.
Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence pro-Russians in mid-April. More than 3,700 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict.
Violence intensified in May after Donetsk and Lugansk regions held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
SSM/HMV/HRB
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