Finnish Red Cross Says Relief Aid for Ukraine Tangled in Red Tape

Ukrainian government recently informed the Finnish Red Cross that it was likely to give a go-ahead to the proposed humanitarian deliveries in the coming days.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Excessive bureaucratic red tape is preventing the Finnish Red Cross (FRC) from sending a new batch of humanitarian relief aid to crisis-hit Ukraine, FRC international operations manager Kalle Loovi told Finland's Yle news channel.

Last autumn, the Finnish humanitarian organization supplied clothes to Ukrainians in the country's conflict-torn southeast.

"We offered Ukrainians more aid that will consist of wearable clothing. But for some reason, the dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities has been mired in bureaucratic red tape," Loovi said.

He added the Ukrainian government recently informed the FRC that it was likely to give a go-ahead to the proposed humanitarian deliveries in the coming days.

Ukraine's southeast is facing a major humanitarian crisis after months of military clashes have left cities without food, drinking water and electricity.

Russia has been providing the region with a lifeline, supplying thousands of tons of humanitarian cargo to the affected provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Since August 2014, over a dozen convoys of Russian relief aid, carrying food, blankets, medicine, electric power generators and building materials have been delivered, to assist locals through the winter period.