Russia Pushes Aid Convoy as Fighting Escalates In East Ukraine
Fighting in the rebel-held east Ukraine region has intensified between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian forces, according to the United Nations, which says the number of people who have died has nearly doubled to 2086 from 1129 in July end.
Amid escalation of hostilities, Russia is pushing ahead with its convoy of aid Thursday, despite the UN and Keiv demanding it stop. Kiev and Russian diplomats are still working out the modalities of delivering humanitarian aid to the affected areas, reports the New York Post.
The convoy of 260 trucks is headed to the border post at the Ukrainian town of Izvarino, near the rebel hit Ukrainian city of Luhansk.
A spokesperson for President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that the convoy could cross into Ukraine closer to Luhansk and Ukrainian officials and representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will jointly see it through customs, reports the Guardian.
Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interior minister described Moscow's convoy as "a provocation by a cynical aggressor".
President Vladimir V Putin in a speech on Thursday to the federal lawmakers in Yalta, Crimea said, "We will do everything we can to help secure an end to this conflict as soon as possible, so that there will be no more bloodshed in Ukraine," according to the Interfax news agency as cited in the New York Post. He said there was a large scale human catastrophe going on that part of Ukraine, which needed immediate attention.
The Ukraine army has been able to push back the rebels and regain some of the small towns over-run by them. Media reports say that Igor Strelkov, the self-proclaimed defence minister of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic, has been badly wounded in fighting.
