MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - German authorities have sent a convoy with humanitarian aid worth 10 million euros [$12.6 million] to Ukraine, Spiegel magazine reported Saturday.
On the initiative of German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Muller, the government has sent to Ukraine about 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from 17 German cities. The convoy is carrying building materials, space heaters, blankets and rollaway beds, the magazine reported.
The trucks are expected to arrive at the Polish-Ukrainian border in the middle of next week. The goods will then be loaded into the Ukrainian vehicles, which will take them to five zones of eastern Ukraine.
Muller's initiative was criticized by the German Defense Ministry, since the decision on sending humanitarian aid lies in the area of competence of the Foreign Ministry.
On Friday, it was reported that Germany may send 200 soldiers to Ukraine to monitor compliance with the ceasefire agreement in the east. Some 150 soldiers will control the situation in the area using drones, another 50 soldiers will protect members of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Ukraine has been engulfed in violent internal conflict since mid-April, when Kiev began its military operation against independence supporters in the southeastern regions of the country. According to UN estimates, over 3,600 have been killed in eastern Ukraine so far.
A trilateral Contact Group comprised of representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and the OSCE met in Minsk on September 5 to discuss the situation in Ukraine. The meeting concluded with a ceasefire agreement which came into force that same day.
On September 19, a memorandum was developed by the group to include nine provisions implementing the ceasefire between Kiev and independence supports in eastern Ukraine.
