Tuesday 12 August 2014 A convoy of 280 trucks that Russia says is carrying humanitarian aid has set out for Ukraine amid western warnings to the Kremlin against using help as a pretext for invasion. With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, Nato said there was a “high probability” that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country’s east, where Kiev’s forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists. Western countries believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, could send his forces into the east to head off a rebel defeat. The Itar Tass news agency said the convoy departed from near Moscow, meaning it would take it a couple of days to arrive in east Ukraine, about 620 miles (1,000km) to the south-west. “It has all been agreed with Ukraine,” Business FM radio quoted President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying. Thousands of people are said to be short of water, electricity and medical aid due to the fighting. The US president, Barack Obama, has said any Russian intervention without Kiev’s consent would be unacceptable and violate international law. The European commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, warned on Monday “against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian”. Russian state television Rossiya 24 showed several heavy white trucks departing from the town of Alabino near Moscow. A correspondent at the scene said the convoy should arrive at the Ukrainian border in two to three days where it would meet representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Russia has said the aid would be delivered together with the ICRC. The ICRC said on Monday that it had submitted a document to Russian and Ukrainian officials. However the independent agency said it needed agreement from all parties as well as security guarantees to carry out the operation, as it does not use armed escorts. “The practical details of this operation need to be clarified before this initiative can move forward,” said Laurent Corbaz, head of ICRC operations for Europe and central Asia. According to UN agencies more than 1,100 people have been killed including government forces, rebels and civilians in the four months since the separatists seized territory in the east and Kiev launched its crackdown.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:10:07 +0000
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