MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia is sending its 25th humanitarian aid convoy to southeastern Ukraine (Donbass) on Thursday, a representative of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has told RIA Novosti, adding that the aid will include gifts for World War II veterans living in the region.
The convoy will leave for Donetsk and Lugansk from Russia's Rostov Region in the morning and will also carry medicine, clothes and food for residents of the crisis-hit Donbass, according to Oleg Voronov, deputy chief of the crisis management center with the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
Gifts for WWII veterans living in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions are being delivered ahead of Victory Day, celebrated on May 9 and marking the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union.
Donbass residents are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe because of the military operation that Kiev launched in southeastern Ukraine in April, 2014, to suppress local independence supporters who refused to recognize the new coup-imposed Ukrainian government.
In addition, the region has been suffering from an economic blockade imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in November, 2014, which led to all state-funded health, educational and social protection organizations having been withdrawn from Donbas.
Russia has delivered over 31,000 metric tons of aid to the people of Donetsk and Lugansk since August, 2014. It plans to send its next, 26th humanitarian aid convoy to Donbass on May 14.
