MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The 30th humanitarian aid convoy that Russia is sending to southeastern Ukraine (Donbass) will depart for the crisis-hit regions of Donetsk and Lugansk on Thursday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.
The convoy consists of over 100 vehicles that will carry more than 1,000 metric tons of aid to Donbass, the ministry’s press service told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. The aid includes food, medicine and items of first necessity.
The convoy will also include 12 metric tons of aid gathered by social and volunteer organizations in Cyprus. Earlier, the aid was brought from the island by ship to Russia’s Port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea coast.
Russia has been sending humanitarian convoys to Donbass since August 2014. The aid, amounting to more than 37,000 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 February 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.
