DONETSK, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has data on the activity of several subversive Ukrainian law enforcement groups on the supposed route for the Russian humanitarian convoy, DPR militia headquarters told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
"In this regard, DPR and LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] militia units are carrying out the necessary search and destroy investigative measures. The militias are also reinforcing units at checkpoints to ensure the safety of the humanitarian convoys," a DPR representative told RIA Novosti.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said this week that it is awaiting a formal security guarantee for employees escorting the convoy of humanitarian aid. In return, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said the DPR guarantees the security of the Red Cross staff.
On Tuesday, ICRC President Peter Maurer discussed the situation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and said that Russia and southeastern Ukraine independence supporters have fulfilled their duty concerning the safety of the humanitarian convoy, while “the Ukrainian side failed to provide the required guarantees for the convoy’s safe passage and subsequent aid distribution,” according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.
The first 16 trucks of the Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine are at the Donetsk-Izvaryne border checkpoint, where the drivers are receiving instructions from ICRC representatives. The rest of the 280-truck convoy is near the Russian town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, about 20 miles away.
In early August, amid the worsening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, Russia proposed to send an international humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine with Russian aid under the aegis of the ICRC.
A convoy carrying about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including baby food, medication, grain, sugar and other basic necessities set off from Moscow Region on August 12, heading toward Ukraine's conflict areas.
