MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s 56th humanitarian aid convoy for residents of Ukraine’s troubled southeastern areas (Donbass) has departed for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, a spokesperson of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in the early hours of Thursday.
"The convoy of the Russian Emergencies Ministry with humanitarian aid for Donbass has headed out in the direction of the Russian-Ukrainian border from the Donskoy rescue center of the Emergencies Ministry in the Rostov region," the spokesperson said.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the aid was mostly food, medicine and construction materials.
More than 60 vehicles will split into two groups and will deliver a total of over 600 tonnes (metric tons) of aid to Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Ukraine’s southeastern regions have been severely affected by Kiev’s special military operation, launched 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 64,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Donbass since August 2014.
