MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) — Allegations that the Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine may serve as a pretext for a “military incursion” into Ukraine are “absurd,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
“Absurd statements that the humanitarian convoy to aid civilians in southeastern Ukraine may be used as a pretext for a Russian "military incursion" into the neighboring state are still being voiced," the ministry said in a statement.
Russia sent a convoy of 280 white Kamaz trucks carrying humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine. The convoy is carrying medical supplies, food, baby foods, sleeping bags and other basic necessities
Earlier today, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that "Ukraine may accept any type of humanitarian aid exclusively within the framework of international law and exclusively from the Red Cross."
At the same time, the country’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that Ukraine would not allow a Russian convoy of humanitarian aid to pass through the eastern Kharkiv Region.
Earlier, Russia officially addressed UN humanitarian agencies, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with a call to organize an international humanitarian mission to Ukraine. Last week, Russia urged the UN Security Council to send a mission with Russian humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine under the auspices of the ICRC and accompanied by its representatives.
The ICRC backed the proposal, and on August 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia had reached an agreement with Kiev and the Red Cross on sending a humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine, expressing hope that the West will not impede its delivery.
