Russian convoy heading toward rebel-controlled area of Ukraine
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A RUSSIAN aid convoy resumed its journey to Ukraine yesterday, taking a road leading south toward the rebel-held city of Luhansk.
The convoy of roughly 262 vehicles had been parked at a military depot in the southern Russian city of Voronezh since Tuesday amid a disagreement over how and where the aid could be delivered to Ukraine, where government troops are battling pro-Russia separatists.
By sending the convoy south, Russia appeared intent on not abiding by a tentative agreement to deliver aid to a government-controlled border checkpoint in the Kharkiv region, where it could more easily be inspected by the Red Cross. Instead, the trucks will most likely cross into Ukraine in the Luhansk region, where much of the border is rebel-controlled.
Moscow has insisted it coordinated the dispatch of the goods, which it says range from baby food and canned meat to portable generators and sleeping bags, with the international Red Cross.
Red Cross spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk said yesterday that talks between the organization, Ukraine and Russia were continuing, but she could not confirm where the Russian convoy was headed.
“The plans keep changing, the discussions are going ahead and we will not confirm for sure until we know an agreement has been reached,” Isyuk said in Geneva. “The practical details still have to be clarified between the two sides.”
Officials in Ukraine say they fear the aid mission could be used as a pretext for establishing a permanent Russian presence in the region, and confusion over the arrangements stoked fears of Russian intervention both in Kiev and the West.
The Ukrainian government said yesterday it was sending its own convoy of humanitarian aid to the region. It said trucks were to depart from the government-controlled cities of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkiv for a town in the Luhansk region. It gave no details about what the trucks contained.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Moscow of possibly planning a “direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid.”
Russian media played down the convoy’s move to travel south to Luhansk. Rossiya television said the route change was necessary because the Kiev government as refused to allow Russian trucks to enter through Kharkiv.
The Ukrainian presidential administration has said it will accept aid brought through government-controlled checkpoints in the Kharkiv region and vetted by the Red Cross.
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