Published time: September 13, 2014
The first 70 trucks in Russia’s 2nd convoy carrying long-awaited humanitarian aid for the devastated areas of eastern Ukraine have crossed the border after weeks of delays, despite an agreement on relief corridors as part of Minsk ceasefire deal.
Residents of war-ravaged eastern Ukraine are living for many weeks on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The aid delivery is crucial as parts of the country remain blocked by government troops limiting food supplies, while the infrastructure destroyed in shellings left the residents of Lugansk without electricity and drinking water.
The first trucks had passed through Russia’s ‘Donetsk’ checkpoint into the buffer zone shortly before midnight on Friday, local customs spokesman Rayan Farukshin told RIA Novosti. Trucks then had to wait for some five hours to get clearance from Russian customs officers and their Ukrainian collegues for further movement.
This is the second Russian shipment of humanitarian relief for Ukraine, and just like with the first shipment of goods, the Ukrainian authorities are being over-scrupulous in letting the aid in, keeping it at the border. The aid delivery has been delayed because Kiev did not fulfill the preliminary plan coordinated with Russia three weeks ago, Stepanov said. “We've been waiting for Kiev's response,” he said on Thursday.
He described the convoy as carrying about 2,000 tons of foods, medicine, water purification equipment, and power generators and other consignments, all donations from various regions of Russia.
The first convoy delivered aid to Ukraine on August 22. A week later, foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov and Pavel Klimkin, respectively, agreed to send the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk regions a new batch of humanitarian aid.
“We are very grateful to the Russian Federation for providing us with aid,” the prime minister of the LPR self-proclaimed republic, Gennady Tsypkalov, said Friday, adding that residents of the troubled region are currently in a “critical” situation.
On September 5, a ceasefire agreement was reached during talks in Minsk between Ukrainian government representatives and republic leaders. The peace plan, based on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposals, calls for an “all to all” prisoners of war exchange, hardware withdrawal and humanitarian aid access to the area.
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