"They [convoy vehicles] are carrying over 600 tonnes of humanitarian cargo," the spokesperson said in the early hours of Thursday, adding that most of the aid is food items such as grains, butter and juice, but medicine and school textbooks are also included.
The convoy was put together at the Donskoy rescue center of the Emergencies Ministry, located in Russia’s Rostov region.
Ukraine’s southeast has been severely affected by Kiev’s special military operation, launched in the southeastern 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.
Russia has sent over 63,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Donbass since August 2014.
Russia is considered to be one of the world leaders in providing humanitarian relief.
According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the country has carried out about 400 humanitarian operations in various part of the world since 1993, of which over 80 were carried out since the start of 2015, bringing more than 90,000 tonnes of aid to 18 different nations.
