MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia sent more aid to southeastern Ukraine (Donbass), which has been suffering from a humanitarian crisis, a representative of the crisis management center with the Russian Emergencies Ministry has announced.
"At 4:00 Moscow time [01:00 GMT] over 120 vehicles left the Donetsk rescue center and started moving in the direction of the state border. They are carrying over 1,400 tonnes of humanitarian aid [to Donbas]," the representative said early on Thursday.
The aid is provided by local authorities, non-government organizations and residents of various Russian regions, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministy, the humanitarian aid convoys that Russia regularly sends to Donbas remain the only source of survival for local residents, who have become subject to an economic blockade, imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on eastern Ukraine in November, 2014.
Since August 2014, Russia has sent over 25,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid — mainly food products, medicine and construction materials — to the people in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, who have been suffering from a humanitarian crisis because of the military operation launched by Kiev authorities in Donbas in April, 2014.
