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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Red Cross says hands out 100 tons of Kiev's humanitarian aid in eastern Ukraine

The statement said food, mainly fruit and vegetables, are to be distributed among over 200,000 displaced persons

© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

GENEVA, August 17, /ITAR-TASS/. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has handed out 100 metric tons of aid from Ukraine’s humanitarian convoy in 10 eastern Ukrainian towns since Saturday, the ICRC said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement said food, mainly fruit and vegetables, are to be distributed among over 20,000 displaced persons in centers and hospitals of the city of Starobelsk in the Lugansk Region and elsewhere.

The Geneva-headquartered ICRC also explained that Kiev-organized aid arrived in different eastern Ukrainian cities, including Lisichansk and Severodonetsk in the Lugansk Region.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry sent a convoy of some 270 trucks with relief supplies for residents of the war-torn southeast of Ukraine on August 12. The cargo contains some 2,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid, including food (grain, sugar, baby food), medications, sleeping bags and portable power generators.

The trucks are at the border with Ukraine and have not yet started undergoing customs inspections despite the ICRC’s morning report that Russian and Ukrainian customs officials and border guards agreed to complete all required procedures as soon as possible.

On August 14, two days after the Russian convoy set off for the mission, Kiev said it is also sending trucks with humanitarian aid to Ukraine’s eastern regions, which have been the scene of fierce clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias.

Ukraine’s state service for emergency situations said 71 trucks from the cities of Kiev, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk will deliver to eastern Ukrainian regions 773 tons of prime necessity goods. ICRC officials were tasked with distributing the aid.

Kiev’s military operation designed to regain control over the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums, kicked off in mid-April and has involved armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. It has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, brought destruction to many buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to flee Ukraine’s southeast.

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