MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) is looking forward for the arrival of the second Russian humanitarian aid convoy and ready to ensure its safe passage, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said in an interview with RIA Novosti Saturday.
“Of course, we need [the aid] and ready to ensure its safety,” Purgin said.
Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is planning to deliver another convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine’s eastern regions due to the ongoing conflict there. Moscow has already sent an official diplomatic note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, notifying about the plans to prepare the mission, according to Lavrov.
The first delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine reached the city of Luhansk, which is currently on the edge of a humanitarian disaster, on August 22, after a week of waiting at a border checkpoint.
Since mid-April the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation in the east of Ukraine to suppress independence supporters, who refused to acknowledge the new government that came to power after a coup in February. The fighting intensified after Donetsk and Luhansk regions proclaimed independence in May.
