MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are set to settle all outstanding issues and begin sending humanitarian aid to war-torn eastern Ukraine as soon as possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
“The Russian Foreign Minister and the ICRC president have agreed to take energetic measures in order to resolve the issue of soonest delivery of the Russian humanitarian cargo,” the ministry said, commenting on the results of the talks between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ICRC President Peter Maurer.
In light of the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine's eastern regions, Russia made a proposal to the UN Security Council in early August to send an international humanitarian mission to the troubled regions with Russian humanitarian aid under the auspices of the ICRC.
On August 12, 280 trucks carrying about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid set off from Moscow Region to eastern Ukraine.
The first 16 trucks are currently at the border checkpoint in Donetsk, with their cargo not yet inspected. The second group of 16 trucks is ready to move out from a parking lot in the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in Russia’s Rostov Region.
