UNITED NATIONS, August 06. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow suggests sending convoys with Russian humanitarian aid supplies under the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as to Ukraine's other cities with a high number of forced migrants, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

"We suggest that convoys with Russian humanitarian aid supplies under the auspices of and accompanied by ICRC officials be sent to Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as to Ukraine's other populated areas where domestically displaced persons from the (country's) eastern regions are concentrated. Our country is ready to cope with this tremendous amount of work. We do not need material assistance from the outside. On the contrary, we are prepared to step up humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian population," he said.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine's east, particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is catastrophic "by any humane measure", Churkin said. 

He said, "With all certitude, one may and must speak of a veritable war".

The situation in the east of Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk and Luhank regions, can be described as a humanitarian catastrophe “by any human measure,” Vitaly Churkin said.

“By any human measure, the situation in the East, especially in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is catastrophic. “With all certitude, one may and must speak today of a veritable war.” “The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has officially recognized the fact of an armed conflict in the East of Ukraine,” the diplomat told an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council.

The UN Security Council’s meeting was called at Russia’s request. John Ging, Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), took the floor at the meeting, calling on all the Ukrainian conflict sides to ensure humanitarian mission’s full access to the affected population.