Russia's 12th Humanitarian Aid Convoy Arrives at Border
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russia's 12th humanitarian aid convoy to the Donbass region arrived at the Ukrainian border and customs clearance procedures are under way, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said Saturday.
The convoy consists of 170 trucks and carries over 1,500 tons of relief supplies, including food, medicine, essentials and other necessities, according to the ministry.
Customs clearance is being done with the presence of Ukrainian customs officers and monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
According to the ministry's plan, the convoy will split into two teams. One will go to the Donetsk border checkpoint and then to Lugansk, while the other will travel to the Matveyev Kurgan checkpoint and then head to Donetsk, Xinhua reported.
Since mid-August 2014, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has sent 11 humanitarian aid convoys with over 14,800 tons of relief supplies to the restive eastern Ukraine, where residents have been suffering from a serious humanitarian crisis since the ongoing conflict between Ukrainian government forces and independence-seeking militia began in April last year.
More than 5,000 people have died in the nine-month-old conflict, and over 1.5 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
