KIEV, August 19./ITAR-TASS/. Deliveries from Russia's relief aid convoy for embattled east Ukraine have been suspended again, Andrey Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said on Tuesday.

“As of 10am Moscow time, the process of preparing aid for delivery has not been carried out since representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] have not received security guarantees from militiamen,” Lysenko said, adding that a group of ICRC representatives was on its way to Ukraine’s eastern city of Luhansk for an assessment and to organize cargo delivery.

“A group of three people will arrive in Ukraine from the city of Donetsk in Rostov region,” he said.

A column of about 270 trucks with almost 2,000 tonnes of foodstuffs, water, baby food and medical supplies left Moscow region on August 12. It reached the Russian-Ukrainian border in Rostov region on August 14 and has remained there since.

Head of the International Red Cross in Europe and Central Asia Loran Korba is expected in Moscow on Tuesday to monitor developments. Korba admitted last week that people in Donetsk and Luhansk regions had been hard-hit by the crisis as freshwater and electricity were in short supply.