Updated on 08:55 p.m. Moscow Time
MINSK, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – Participants of the Minsk talks on Ukrainian crisis settlement agreed Friday that the first batch of humanitarian aid will be send to war-torn southeastern Ukraine in the coming days, the Russian ambassador to Ukraine said.
“We have agreed on how the humanitarian convoy should be organized. Tomorrow, the removal of mines will begin at the so-called ‘Northern route,’ and the first ten trucks with humanitarian aid will be sent,” Mikhail Zurabov said.
“The second humanitarian convoy will be sent via rail. Then all donors willing to help Donbas can send their humanitarian cargo,” the Russian diplomat said.
Members of the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation met earlier in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they agreed on a ceasefire, exchange of prisoners and humanitarian aid.
On September 4, Russian Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Artamonov said that Almost 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including foodstuffs and water, are ready to be sent with the second humanitarian convoy to southeastern Ukraine.
The first Russian humanitarian convoy, also carrying 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, reached eastern Ukraine on August 22, after a week of waiting at a border checkpoint due to the passage authorization complications. The first humanitarian aid delivery carried out its mission under the auspices of the ICRC.
