Ninth Russian Humanitarian Aid Convoy to East Ukraine Arrives at Border

Another humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine, the ninth for this year, has reached the Russia-Ukraine border. The convoy of more than 130 vehicles have been split into two groups: one group of over 80 trucks will head for the Luhansk Region, while the second group will go towards the Donetsk Region.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 12 (Sputnik) – The ninth Russian humanitarian aid convoy for this year to eastern Ukraine has reached the border, the head of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry’s Southern Regional Center press service said.

“The vehicles with humanitarian aid have arrived at the Matveyev-Kurgan and Donetsk (Russia) border crossings. The cargoes have not yet been registered,” the press service spokeswoman said.

The convoy of more than 130 vehicles have been split into two groups: one convoy of over 80 trucks will cross the border of Russia’s Donetsk and head toward Ukraine’s Luhansk region and the other convoy of more than 50 will cross the Matveyev-Kurgan border crossing and head for the Donetsk region, an Emergencies Ministry spokesman for the southern region said.

The trucks bound for Luhansk are carrying more than 800 tons of humanitarian aid and the vehicles headed for the Donetsk region have cargoes of more than 400 tons.

Eastern Ukraine has been suffering from a humanitarian crisis since Kiev launched a military operation against the region's independence supporters in April.

Since mid-August, humanitarian convoys from Russia have delivered more than 10,700 tons of aid to eastern Ukraine's regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The convoys have delivered food, water, power generators, medication and winter supplies for the residents of war-ridden Ukrainian regions.