ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - The first ten trucks of Russia’s new humanitarian aid convoy carrying medicine and fuel for stricken eastern Ukrainian regions have crossed into Ukraine and are heading to Donetsk, a deputy chief of the national crisis management center at the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said on Tuesday.
It was reported earlier that the convoy had arrived at the border with Ukraine and was queuing up for customs checks.
The 20-truck convoy will carry a 100-ton load of humanitarian cargo to Donetsk and Luhansk, including medicine and fuel. According to the ministry’s representative Oleg Voronov, the convoy will again split in two groups to bring aid separately to both regions as it did on previous missions.
Another ten trucks are awaiting their turn at the Donetsk-Izvarino border crossing, where they are to be checked in the presence of Ukrainian customs officers and border guards, as well as of OSCE security group’s monitors, the Russian official said.
The aid is being delivered on request of Donetsk and Luhansk authorities, Vorontsov said. He spoke of “targeted deliveries,” with medicine supplies earmarked for healthcare institutions and fuel going to “life sustaining services” in the regions, such as fire departments and other emergency services.
Russia has been sending aid convoys to Ukraine's southeast since August. Hundreds of white-painted trucks have delivered tons of such essentials as food, water, power generators, medicine and warm clothes to Donetsk and Luhansk to replenish their stocks ahead of the coming winter.
Russia's previous humanitarian convoy returned on Sunday to the Rostov Region which borders on Ukraine. After being checked by Ukrainian officials at the eastern border with Russia the trucks were divided into two even groups and proceeded along two roads to deliver the aid to both regions.
In April, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in the country's southeast, where people refused to accept the new government that came to power following a coup in February, and called for independence instead.
The military actions brought about a severe humanitarian crisis in Donbas regions, where the locals were left without food, drinking water and electricity.
Russia's action on the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine has drawn condemnations from Kiev's Western allies who claimed Moscow used its aid missions as a smoke screen for illegal military maneuvers.
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