South-east Ukraine needs more Russian humanitarian aid — DPR representative

World September 17, 2014, 14:06

The second convoy has been sent to Luhansk where the situation is the most catastrophic, representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Andrei Rodkin says

MOSCOW, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The citizens of south-eastern Ukraine will need more Russian humanitarian aid to survive the cold season, a representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Wednesday.

“The second convoy has been sent to Luhansk where the situation is the most catastrophic, but there is still an increased need in Donbass for the humanitarian aid,” Andrei Rodkin said, adding that Ukrainians will have to leave tent camps when the winter comes.

Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said the second batch of Russian humanitarian aid, which arrived in Ukraine late last week, will be enough for only two or three weeks.

“Of course, this (aid delivery) solves the problem for some time,” Stepanov said, stressing that the delivery of the humanitarian aid should become “systematic and in the framework of agreements”.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry could send the third humanitarian cargo to Ukraine by the end of the week provided that certain conditions are met, Stepanov said. He has asked the Red Cross to actively participate in the aid delivery.

Russia has sent a total of 4,000 tons of food, medicine, water purification equipment and power generators to help Ukrainians in the war-ravaged regions survive the humanitarian catastrophe. The first Russian humanitarian convoy reached Ukraine in late August, after more than a week of waiting at the border for all the sides to agree.

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