MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) — The Russian foreign minister and his Ukrainian counterpart noted that international organizations should play a more active role in delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday in a statement.
In a phone conversation earlier in the day, Sergei Lavrov and Pavlo Klimkin "noted the necessity of a more prompt and responsible participation of international structures, involved in carrying out this important and urgent humanitarian mission."
Earlier this week, Russia sent to Ukraine 280 trucks carrying about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including 400 tons of grain, 100 tons of sugar, 62 tons of infant food, 54 tons of medical supplies and medication, 12,000 sleeping bags and 69 mobile electrical generators.
On Friday, the ministry said that Kiev had intensified its military action to prevent the humanitarian aid convoy from moving along the agreed route to the city of Luhansk.
The Russian Foreign Ministry urged all the sides os the Ukrainian conflict to declare an immediate ceasefire for the period of the humanitarian operation in accordance with international humanitarian law and called on ICRC, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations (UN) to actively support the Russian efforts.
Since the start of Kiev’s special military operation in eastern Ukraine, a total of 1,367 people have been killed and another 4,087 wounded, including 2,589 civilians and 29 children, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 117,000 people have been forcibly displaced.
