DONETSK, August 2 (RIA Novosti) – The first part of the UN humanitarian aid for internally displaced persons, fleeing the fighting in eastern Ukraine, has arrived in a village in Donetsk Region, the local administration’s press service said on Saturday.
“Today in the village of Yalta, Oldrich Andrysek, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Ukraine, and Deputy Governor Ilya Shevlyak handed out 12 tons of humanitarian aid to the internally displaced persons,” the statement said.
Some 5,350 IDPs, who are fleeing the zone of an active phase of the so-called anti-terrorist operation, which Moscow calls a “punitive act,” are currently staying at local recreation centers.
Another humanitarian cargo is expected to be sent to the Novoazovsk district, in southern Donetsk Region, in the coming days.
Over 15,000 IDPs have been officially registered in the region’s southern districts, the administration said.
In mid-April, Kiev launched a military crackdown on independence supporters in eastern Ukraine. According to the latest UN report, the conflict has claimed the lives of 1,129 civilians since then, with another 3,442 injured.
Russia is currently sheltering over 730,000 people who have left Ukraine since the start of the deadly conflict between government forces and independence supporters, according to the latest official data.
