"The two leaders agreed that Russia's sending military columns across the border into Ukraine and its continued provision of advanced weapons to the separatists was inconsistent with any desire to improve the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine," the White House said in a statement about the call between Biden and Poroshenko.
REUTERS http://www.todayonline.com/world/biden-poroshenko-say-russias-actions-not-humanitarian-ukraine 16-17/8/14 --------------------------------------------------------------
Russian aid convoy waits near Ukraine. ICRC may take under its jurisdiction aid convoy in Ukraine’s territory
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- The Red Cross has sent a formal request to Kiev to allow the Russian humanitarian aid to enter eastern Ukraine but has so far received no answer and the convoy has remained stuck on the border of the war-torn zone since August 14.
Russia sent 280 trucks with medical supplies, food, including baby food, sleeping bags and other basic necessities to southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday. But the cargo still has not reached the residents of the regions badly hit by the conflict as the Kiev government has yet to formally approval for the convoy to cross into Ukraine.
The sides – including Russian and Ukrainian border guards and customs officials - spent several hours in talks trying to reach a compromise over the issue.
They “made quite some progress,” Red Cross official Pascal Cuttat told the media after the meeting.
For now the procedures of the cargo customs clearing and the inspection of all the trucks by the ICRC at the border have been agreed upon. It was also agreed that every Russian vehicle delivering the aid will be accompanied by a Red Cross employee once the convoy gets on Ukrainian soil.
However, it is not clear when exactly ICRC will be able to inspect the trucks.
“The ICRC has sent a paper to Kiev formally requesting that this convoy can be processed. We are waiting for the answer to this request,” the organization’s official said.
However, the key element for the convoy to proceed remains security on its way to the regions that have been at the epicenter of fierce fighting between the Ukrainian army and local self-defense troops.
“There remains one, of course, major challenge: we absolutely need security guarantees from all parties concerned before we can start moving,” Cuttat said.
That issue, he added, will have to be sorted once Kiev allows the delivery of the cargo.
Earlier on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Kiev is trying to review the agreements on Russian humanitarian aid.
“We categorically deny the ill-meaning manipulation of facts that has been recently done by representatives of some of Ukraine’s government bodies. In particular, according to media reports, the representatives of the Ukraine’s Security Council state that the Russian side refused to deliver the humanitarian aid via the border posts controlled by Ukraine. Wild guesses circulate that we allegedly didn’t provide the information on the contents of the humanitarian aid. Both allegations are contrary to the facts,” the ministry said in a statement.
http://rt.com/news
16/8/14
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Ukraine has recognized as relief aid the International Red Cross cargo which Russia dispatched to Ukraine on August 12, the Ukrainian government said on its website....
ReplyDelete“Ukraine’s Minister of Social Policy Lyudmila Denisova has signed a decree recognizing the ICRC cargo as relief aid,” the report said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy received a letter enumerating the relief items on August 16. It was signed by Pascal Cuttat, the head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Russia, Belarus Ukraine and Moldova.
The Ukraine-based mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the letter said, is to receive the relief cargo in Ukraine. The ICRC employees in Ukraine will help to move the cargo to Ukrainian territory via the Donetsk border control post.
Earlier on Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross dispatched a written resolution to Kiev on the results of inspection of its cargo transported by the Russian truck convoy................http://en.itar-tass.com/world/745361
17/8/14