Russian Federation (RF) troops took a humanitarian aid convoy meant for civilians in the badly-battered city Kharkiv, and looted trucks for food and supplies, a senior Ukrainian official said late Sunday evening.
RF combat units operating to the south of Kharkiv ignored a local ceasefire and no interference agreement, and took a column of civilian supply vehicles hostage headed to the town Volchansk at gunpoint, said Ilryna Vereshchuk, Vice Premier of Reintegration, at a televised press conference.
Ukraine government staff have lost communications with drivers and a doctor travelling with the column carrying primarily food and medical supplies, she said.
“They (RF soldiers) blocked deliveries to the village Mala Rogan’. We had received information from our intelligence agencies that they (RF high command) were planning a provocation of this kind. They planned ahead of time to take a humanitarian aid column hostage,” Vereshchuk said.
Ukraine’s government since RF forces began cutting off Ukrainian towns and cities, in late February, have attempted daily to push columns of civilian vans and trucks into the isolated localities, to bring needed supplies in and refugees out. On Sunday, Vereshchuk said, of seven planned humanitarian aid columns only four reached their destinations.
