MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Vehicles with Russian humanitarian aid have started moving from the Noginsk rescue center to the Donskoy rescue center of the Emergencies Ministry, where Russia’s 55th humanitarian aid convoy for residents of Ukraine’s southeast will be formed, a ministry spokesperson said.
"Today, at 05:00 Moscow time [02:00 GMT], trucks carrying humanitarian cargo meant for residents of Donbas [Ukraine’s southeast] started moving from the Noginsk rescue center of the Russian Emergencies Ministry to the Rostov region," the spokesperson told journalists on Saturday.
The vehicles from Noginsk will be joined by vehicles with humanitarian aid from other parts of Russia to form Russia’s 55th convoy for residents of Ukraine’s crisis-hit southeast.
"It is planned that the convoy will consist of over 70 vehicles that will deliver over 600 tonnes [metric tons] of humanitarian cargo [to Ukraine’s southeast], most of which will be food, medicine and school textbooks," the spokesperson said.
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.
