The Kiev government has intensified its military action to prevent the humanitarian aid convoy from moving along the agreed route to the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.
“We would like to note that the Ukrainian military has intensified hostilities with an evident purpose to disrupt the convoy’s route from the Russian-Ukrainian border to Luhansk that was previously agreed with Kiev,” the ministry said in a statement.
“It appears that a lot of people both in Ukraine and beyond its borders are willing to stop the humanitarian mission, regardless of new bloodshed and destruction,” the statement reads.
According to the ministry, reports come out regarding the direct threats to use force against the humanitarian convoy that Russia sent earlier this week. At the same time, the Russian side remains “strongly committed to a speedy and full-fledged implementation of the agreements reached with the leadership of Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about the delivery of the humanitarian aid” to citizens of Ukrainian eastern regions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry urged all the sides to declare an immediate ceasefire for the period of the humanitarian operation in accordance with international humanitarian law and called on ICRC, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations (UN) to actively support the Russian efforts.
Amid the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukrainian regions engulfed in armed hostilities between government forces and independence supporters, Russia dispatched a humanitarian aid to the crisis-hit country. The 280 trucks sent by Russia are carrying about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including 400 tons of grain, 100 tons of sugar, 62 tons of infant food, 54 tons of medical supplies and medication, 12,000 sleeping bags and 69 mobile electrical generators.
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