Russia urges quickest aid delivery to east Ukraine (Sergei Lavrov)

SOCHI, August 10 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia hopes that the issue of relief aid delivery to eastern Ukraine will be resolved soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday, adding that the problem was under control of President Vladimir Putin.
“We think this is a pressing issue that admits of no delay. This issue is under control of the Russian president,” Lavrov said. “We hope we will be able to agree relief aid deliveries to those who need them as soon as possible.”
Lavrov said Russia was taking efforts to agree with Ukraine, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations on humanitarian aid deliveries.

“Now, our top priority task is to agree on urgent humanitarian aid to the Lugansk and Donetsk regions with the Ukrainian side, with the International Committee of the Red Cross and with international humanitarian organizations within the United Nations system,” he told journalists.
The Red Cross reported on Friday that armed clashes between pro-Kiev troops and self-defense militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions had deteriorated the humanitarian situation in east Ukraine as thousands of families had been forced to flee their homes.
“The living conditions of the resident population are worsening also,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
Almost 850,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the start of Kiev’s military operation in the country’s southeast, of whom 730,000 have found shelter in Russia, according to data reported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/744324
10/8/14
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Relarted:

• Readout of the Vice President’s Call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (The White House)

  • US: Russian delivery of aid to Ukraine will be viewed as invasion

• Donetsk militia ready for ceasefire to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe

• Donetsk republic says ceasefire possible if Ukrainian troops follow suit...

DONETSK, August 10 /ITAR-TASS/. The main condition for a ceasefire by militia in Ukraine’s southeast is a similar measure from the Ukrainian troops, Donetsk People’s Republic’s Ministry of Information Policy said in a statement published on the authority’s website on Sunday.
The statement reads: “we are always open for a ceasefire agreement… not to allow spread of the humanitarian catastrophe, which has begun in Donbass already.”
“Ceasefire may be mutual only. However, despite the urges coming now from even the international community, Kiev continues its punitive operation. Informal consultations featuring OSCE bring no results, and yet the republic’s government is ready to continue them.”
The statement read conditions to begin “a negotiation process are: complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donetsk republic and participation in the negotiations exclusively of official Ukrainian representatives.”
The government of the self-proclaimed republic stressed there is no replacing ceasefire with negotiations.
“In the past, we had only informal consultations with some contact group, which did not have official authorities, and that ceasefire agreement was not observed by the Ukrainian side,” the statement read.
On August 9, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic Alexander Zakharchenko announced the republic was ready for a ceasefire not to allow spread of the humanitarian catastrophe in Donbass. His statement was published on the dnr.today website.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/744294

10/8/14