A convoy of nearly 300 trucks carrying what Russian officials say is humanitarian aid for civilians has halted along a road near the city of Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast, Reuters reported. Yelets is some 600 kilometers from the Izvaryne Ukrainian border crossing, where the aid could enter Ukraine.
The transport, which left the Moscow suburbs on Aug. 12, was organized by the Russian government without the Russian Red Cross and so far no agreement has been reached with Ukraine or the International Committee of the Red Cross that would allow it to enter Ukraine legally and be delivered to civilians in separatist controlled Luhansk.
“Ukraine can accept any kind of humanitarian aid solely within international law and solely from the Red Cross,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said at a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 13.
“The level of Russian cynicism has no boundaries. First, they supply tanks, Grads, terrorists, bandits who shoot Ukrainians, and then they supply water and salt,” he added.
The head of the information department of the Ukrainian Red Cross, Viktor Sherbanuk, told the Kyiv Post that the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva had yet to receive a detailed inventory of the contents of the transport along with other requirements including an agreement with Ukraine that would allow it to transport the aid.
The massive transport has been the focus of extensive attention as it moves southwest. The situation is likened to a Ukrainian Cuban Missile Crisis amid accusations that the Russian government is using the convoy to actually deliver weapons and reinforcements to militants in embattled Luhansk, rather than civilians.
In a press conference on Aug. 13, presidential press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko outlined three possible scenarios for the transport.
“First, direct invasion of the Ukrainian territory under the pretense of humanitarian cargo delivery. Second, provocations with cargo on the territory of Kharkiv region with high probability of Russian aggression. Third, assistance to Luhansk will pass through the checkpoint which is the nearest to this Ukrainian city.”
Meanwhile, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Igor Baluta wrote on his Facebook page on Aug. 13 that the convoy will not pass through the Kharkiv border.
Separatists control border checkpoints in Ukraine’s east where the transport could enter, but Ukrainian and American officials have repeatedly said that would amount to an act of aggression. However, a senior government official told the Kyiv Post that intensive negotiations are on the way, which will hopefully lead to an agreement that will allow the aid to be transported across Russia’s border with Luhansk.
“Ukraine even thinks there might be a hope of re-establishing a checkpoint at Izvaryne (Luhansk Oblast),” the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make official comments about this sensitive issue. Up to 200 kilometers of border in Luhansk Oblast are currently under separatist control.
Without an agreement with Ukraine and the Red Cross, however, it is unclear how the transport could travel to Luhansk legally.
An agreement with the separatists concerning the transport involving Ukraine and the Red Cross broke down during negotiations and was never reached.
Any transport of unspecified goods unapproved by the country it is being transported to would not legally qualify as humanitarian aid.
“If they go through an uncontrolled area it won’t be humanitarian aid it will be aid for the separatists,” said Sherbanuk.
Kyiv Post staff writer Ian Bateson can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @ianbateson.
