Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Liudmyla Denisova has signed an order to recognize as humanitarian aid the Russian cargo contributed to the efforts addressing the needs of southeastern Ukraine and led by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Ukrainian government secretariat's information and PR department said early on Sunday morning.

"Consistent with articles 4 and 5 of the Ukrainian Law on Humanitarian Aid and the initiative of Ukrainian President P. Poroshenko regarding the acceptance of humanitarian aid within the framework of the ICRC-led international mission, to recognize the cargo as humanitarian aid," the document said.

Pascal Cuttat, head of the ICRC regional delegation in the Russian Federation, Belarus and Moldova, sent a letter listing the humanitarian goods to the Ukrainian Social Policy Ministry on August 16, the department reported.

It said the cargo included canned meat, rice, buckwheat, salt, refined sugar, tea, condensed milk, water, baby food, sleeping bags, power plants and drugs which do not contain narcotic or strong substances. The total weight of the cargo nears 1,900 tonnes.

The humanitarian cargo is addressed to the ICRC mission in Ukraine. ICRC representatives will move the cargo into Ukraine across the Donetsk checkpoint, the letter said.