Updated 1:33 p.m. Moscow time
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is preparing to send its fourth humanitarian convoy to war-torn eastern Ukraine, Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said Wednesday.
"We are working on the issue jointly with the Foreign Ministry. The humanitarian cargo is now being put together. We will decide when to send it via diplomatic channels," Stepanov said.
On August 22, the first Russian convoy with humanitarian aid that consisted of 280 trucks arrived in Luhansk after a series of delays. The second humanitarian convoy arrived in Ukraine on September 13. The third convoy arrived on September 20 and comprised some 200 trucks carrying water, food, generators and medication to the eastern regions of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanded Russia to stop sending convoys with humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine, calling them "provocations."
Ukraine has greatly suffered from violence as a result of the dispute between the Kiev authorities and independence supporters of eastern Ukraine that began in mid-April.
A ceasefire agreement was established on September 5 during the meeting of a trilateral Contact Group in Minsk on the situation in Ukraine. A memorandum agreed upon during Minsk talks detailed the exact steps to fulfilling agreements in the protocol.
