Update | Russian aid convoy heads for eastern Ukraine, but Kiev says it will deny it entry
Kiev says it will refuse entry to the trucks because they are not certified by the Red Cross and convoy may be a covert military operation
A convoy of 280 Russian trucks reportedly packed with aid headed for eastern Ukraine yesterday, but Kiev said it would deny the mission entry because it had not been certified by the Red Cross and could be a covert military operation.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going. That has raised fears in Ukraine and the West, where leaders have voiced concern that Russia could use the initiative as a pretext for sending troops into separatist-held territory.
Russian television and news agencies reported that 2,000 tonnes of aid was en route to Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government forces has claimed more than 1,300 lives since April.
Thousands of people are believed to be short of water, electricity and medical aid in the city of Donetsk and in the border town of Luhansk due to bitter fighting.
Pro-Kremlin television channel NTV showed hundreds of white trucks gathered at a depot outside Moscow, and said they were carrying everything from baby food to sleeping bags. The report also showed a Russian Orthodox priest sprinkling holy water on the trucks, some of which bore a red cross, before their departure.