21:37 15.12.2014

Blocked trucks with Akhmetov foundation's aid for Donetsk redirected to Dnipropetrovsk for reloading under observers' supervision

2 min read
Blocked trucks with Akhmetov foundation's aid for Donetsk redirected to Dnipropetrovsk for reloading under observers' supervision

The trucks containing humanitarian aid from Rinat Akhmetov's Foundation, which had been heading for the occupied territories in Donbas and blocked by volunteers battalions, are now returning to Dnipropetrovsk in order to avoid provocations, a spokesman for the Foundation's humanitarian center said on Channel Ukraina on Monday evening.

"The situation is tense. We're going to solve the problem: to avoid provocations, the trucks are now making a U-turn and returning to Dnipropetrovsk where they were loaded and where we plan to reload the cargo in the presence of international organizations' representatives so that everybody could see that these are products for civilians," he said.

In his words, the cargo will again be sent to Donetsk where it will be unloaded at the Donbass Arena Stadium and distributed to all who need it.

Foundation aid coordinator Rymma Fil announced on Monday that 22 trucks with humanitarian aid from the foundation were stuck at a checkpoint not far from Kurakhove, with fighters from the Dnipro-1 volunteers battalion unwilling to let them into Donetsk. The aid is provided to pensioners aged over 60, the disabled and young children aged under 2, she said.

Samopomich MP Semen Semenchenko, who is the commander of another volunteer battalion, Donbas, arrived at the site and reported over 20 trucks there. "[This is] usual food for solders: pasta, Oleina [sunflower oil], cookies. The truck with "baby food" had packed semolina in it," he wrote on Facebook.

He also cited Dnipro battalion fighters who claimed that the blocked trucks were loaded with thermal underwear and camouflage. "The Dnipro fighters are determined not to feed the terrorists until prisoners of war have been released," he wrote.

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