DUSHANBE, July 31. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia hopes for China’s support to an initiative to set up a humanitarian mission for southeast Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCO states in the Tajik capital on Thursday.

“We express our gratitude to Chinese leadership and people for the aid they offered to refugees from Donetsk and Luhansk regions currently staying in Russia. This friendly gesture will allow drawing attention of the international community to the humanitarian tragedy breaking out in the southeast [Ukraine],” the minister said.

“We have put forward an initiative to set up urgently an international humanitarian mission to help civilians in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, use possibilities of the UN International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration and hope for your support of a humanitarian initiative,” the Russian foreign minister added.