Moscow dispatches humanitarian convoy to Ukraine’s east
Russia has sent a humanitarian aid convoy to the residents of Ukraine’s crisis-hit east, where a relatively stable ceasefire is holding following months of fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia forces.
"At 04.00 Moscow time (01.00 GMT), the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s 42nd truck convoy loaded with humanitarian aid for residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions left the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Donskoi rescue center," a ministry spokesperson told Russia's TASS news agency early on Thursday.
The 100-truck convoy will deliver more than 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid, consisting mostly of foodstuffs, to Ukraine's eastern regions, also known as Donbass.
"The humanitarian cargo for the convoy came from public organizations and trade unions from various Russian regions," the unnamed spokesperson said.
Russia has dispatched over 50,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the regions since August last year.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking Donbass has been severely affected by fighting between the country’s army and the pro-Russians since April 2014, when Kiev launched a military crackdown there in an attempt to quell regional protests.
During peace talks in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in February, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reached a deal, dubbed Minsk II, under which Ukraine’s warring sides agreed to a ceasefire, the pullout of heavy weapons, and constitutional reforms in the country by the end of the year.
Eastern parts of Ukraine have also been suffering from an economic blockade imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last November. The restrictive measures have led to the withdrawal of all state-funded health, educational and social protection organizations from the region.
Some 8,000 people have been killed and about 18,000 others injured in Donbass since April 2014, according to the UN.
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