The first trucks in a vast Russian aid convoy have cleared customs at a rebel-held border point in east Ukraine and are poised to move further into the country after almost two weeks of speculation over Moscow's intentions about the mission.
Russia says the 270-truck convoy will bring much needed food and other humanitarian aid to the crisis-struck people of east Ukraine, where Kiev's forces and Moscow-backed rebels have fought bitter battles that have caught civilians in the crossfire.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine's east has continued to worsen, with at least two people killed in an artillery strike on Thursday on a suburb of Donetsk, according to the mayor's office. In Luhansk, reportedly mostly under the separatists' control, residents have been without running water and electricity for several weeks.
Officials in Kiev had wanted to end the armed insurgency in the east before Ukraine's Independence Day, this Sunday, but while the army has made significant gains, rebels have dug in at the two main cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and civilian suffering has increased.
"With fighting ongoing, we urge the parties involved to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects. In Luhansk and other affected areas there is an urgent need for essentials like food and medical supplies, and to restore contact between separated loved ones," said Laurent Corbaz, head of operations for Europe and Central Asia at the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Some Ukrainian politicians had voiced fears that the Russian convoy was a "Trojan horse"; there were concerns over why many of the trucks were almost empty. Those running the convoy said the trucks were carrying "the optimum weight for a journey of this length in these conditions".
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