Russia’s government said 280 trucks with 2,000 metric tons of donated food, medicine and water left Moscow yesterday and would proceed into Ukraine under the auspices of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross. Viktor Shcherbanyuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Red Cross in Kiev, said today there were was no agreeement for the convoy’s entry either with his organization or with the ICRC.
The convoy was on its way to the Russian city of Belgorod about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, RIA Novosti said today.
Ukraine expressed fears the convoy is
carrying military equipment to aid the pro-Russian separatists.
The ICRC needs “some clarification first regarding modalities, practical steps that have to be implemented prior to launch such an operation,” Laurent Corbaz, its head of operations for Europe, said in a video on the Red Cross website. “We seriously need security guarantees, for example, and direct contact with all the parties; this is not settled yet. We need as well to know precisely what is inside the convoy, the size of this convoy, and the various material that is going to be handed over.”
A convoy Russia says is loaded with humanitarian assistance for rebel-held areas of... Read More
Rebel Strongholds
The wrangling over the aid comes as Ukrainian forces tighten a noose around rebel strongholds in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, where thousands are without water and power. Ukraine blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for stoking a separatist war that has killed more than 1,200 people in the east after annexing the Crimean peninsula in March.“The Russian aid mission raises the prospect of incidents -- calculated or accidental -- that could further escalate the crisis by enabling Moscow to argue that Ukrainian and international organizations are unwilling or unable to provide adequate security,” New York-based Eurasia Group analyst Alexander Kliment said in an e-mail. “This logic would then lead Russia to insert troops under the pretext of protecting aid workers.”
Amid the continued tensions, Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, plunged as much as 6.9 percent to a record-low 13.715 per dollar yesterday. The head of the central bank, Valeriya Gontareva, told lawmakers in Kiev the hryvnia dropped after “a mood of panic” spread “because of speculation about the start of a full-scale war.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected a call for a cease-fire by militants two... Read More
Rebel Group
Ukraine’s military says it’s near the end of an operation to surround the remaining separatist strongholds and has called on civilians to leave Donetsk and Luhansk. Encirclement of the rebels would shut off routes to the Russian border and sever their supply lines. The Defense Ministry said on Facebook yesterday that government forces retook control of three villages and “neutralized” a group of 30 rebels.The fighting is causing havoc in the residential areas where it’s now concentrated. Luhansk, where about half of the 500,000 population remains, is completely isolated, with electricity cut off in the center and people without phone connections, food, medication or fuel, the city council said on its website. Many residents have had no power for three weeks and most shops are closed.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on its website the white-painted trucks are en route to the frontier between Belgorod and the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv -- about 700 kilometers (430 miles) by road from Moscow.
Two women talk next to a damaged house in Donetsk. The aid push comes as Ukrainian... Read More
Demands Dropped
Lavrov said ICRC representatives will meet the convoy on the border and inspect the cargo before it travels on initially to the Luhansk region. Ukrainian officials dropped demands to transfer the aid into other vehicles at the frontier, he said.“Signals” had been sent to the rebels to ensure the safety of the convoy, the foreign minister said.
The Ukrainians “feel comfortable with” the plan for dealing with the aid delivery, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington.
Valery Chaly, the deputy head of President Petro Poroshenko’s administration, set out Ukrainian demands earlier yesterday, saying that “our stance is the following: we are not considering any movement of Russian columns through Ukrainian territory.” Any attempt by a military convoy to cross the border will be “an act of aggression,” Chaly said.
‘Feedback’ Awaited
The Red Cross is “in constant contact” with Ukrainian and Russian authorities, Corbaz said. “They know our requirements; we are waiting for their feedback.”The Red Cross will conduct an evaluation of what people in the conflict zone need that may take a week, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. “The humanitarian mission will be undertaken after this evaluation,” he told reporters in Kiev.
The U.S. and the European Union have joined Ukraine in warning Russia not to use aid as a pretext for military intervention. The Red Cross says it can’t accept military protection for aid operations.
‘Trojan Horse’
“If it’s a Trojan horse and they are crossing the border for other than humanitarian purposes, then that would be illegal and we’ll know -- the world will know -- that once again, the Russians have not upheld” the standards they said they would set, Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Steve Warren told reporters yesterday when asked about the convoy.Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill allowing the imposition of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals. Lawmakers will meet again on Aug. 14.
Ukraine, which stopped receiving Russian gas in June while acting as a conduit for supplies to Europe, may impose a “complete or partial” ban on energy shipments from its neighbor, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said last week.
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