MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Emergencies Ministry will help deliver humanitarian aid provided by Cyprus to Ukraine’s southeast (Donbass) that has been suffering from a humanitarian crisis as a result of an armed conflict in the region.
"Social and volunteer organizations in Cyprus have sent humanitarian cargo to the residents of Donbass. It includes clothing, personal hygiene products, as well as long-term storage food products," the ministry’s spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The 12 metric tons of aid have been delivered from Cyprus to Russia’s Port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea coast.
"The [humanitarian] cargo will be delivered from Novorossiysk to Donetsk today using Russian Emergencies Ministry vehicles," the ministry’s spokesperson said.
Russia itself has been sending humanitarian convoys to Donbass since August 2014. The aid, amounting to more than 36,000 metric tons, has been delivered to the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, targeted by Kiev’s military operation in April 2014 in response to local residents’ refusal to recognize the new government, which came to power as a result of a coup.
The hostilities led to a humanitarian crisis in the region. Donbass residents have also been suffering from an economic blockade imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in November, 2014.
