MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s 50th humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine’s southeast has set off for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the Russian Emergencies Ministry informs.
"At 04:00 Moscow time [01:00 GMT], about 90 vehicles left the Donskoy rescue center of the Emergencies Ministry in the [Russian] Rostov region in the direction of the Russia-Ukraine border," a ministry spokesperson said early on Thursday.
Residents of Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions will get over 1,100 tonnes (metric tons) of Russian aid, including food and school textbooks, according to the spokesperson.
Ukraine’s southeast (Donbass) has been severely affected by Kiev’s special military operation, launched in Donetsk and Lugansk regions in April 2014. The operation was a response to local residents' refusal to recognize the new coup-installed government in the country.
Donbass residents have also been affected by an economic blockade, imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in November 2014.
Overall, Russia has delivered more than 59,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including about 43,000 tonnes of food, to Ukraine’s southeast since August 2014.
