Ukraine To Stop Russian Aid Convoy At Border

Ukraine has said it will stop an unofficial Russian aid convoy from crossing into a rebel-held part of the country.

Ukraine National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the convoy of 280 lorries was not certified by the official aid coordinator, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The convoy of trucks had departed from a depot near Moscow on Tuesday morning and was expected to take up to a day to arrive at an undisclosed border location.

The ICRC confirmed it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going but Russian media said the vehicles were loaded with 2,000 tons of goods.

An orthodox priest walked along and blessed the trucks prior to their leaving the capital, driven by men in khaki uniforms, which were also believed to be carrying goods including baby food and sleeping bags.

Men load sacks on to one of the 280 trucks headed towards Ukraine

ICRC Ukraine mission spokesman Andre Loersch said that while it had reached a general agreement about aid delivery to the region, he had "no information about the content" of the trucks or destination.

"At this stage we have no agreement on this, and it looks like the initiative of the Russian Federation," he said.

The mission has already raised fears in Ukraine and the West that it is being used as a pretext for sending troops to rebel-held areas adjacent to the Russian border.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was a "high probability" that Russia could intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine as rebels struggled to hold ground against Ukrainian forces.

On Monday, Mr Rasmussen said: "We see the Russians developing the narrative and pretext under the guise of a humanitarian operation.

"And we see a military build-up that could be used to conduct such illegal military operations in Ukraine."

Russia firmly denies the allegations but Nato said Moscow has massed 20,000 troops along the border - Kiev put the number at 45,000 troops.

US President Barack Obama had earlier urged Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to allow in humanitarian aid, including goods from Russia, to ease civilian suffering.

Mr Poroshenko said the ICRC must co-ordinate aid deliveries to the area, where more than 1,300 lives have been lost since April, according to the United Nations.

The leaders agreed but the White House said "any Russian intervention in Ukraine without the formal, express consent and authorisation would be unacceptable and a violation of international law".

It was unclear whether the trucks would cross the border into that province, where much of the frontier remains under separatist control, or the government-held Kharkiv province.

At least 60 miles of the border is currently in rebel hands and the ICRC said it was ready to facilitate any aid operation with the involvement of all sides concerned.

But Laurent Corbaz, ICRC head of operations for Europe and central Asia, said "practical details of this operation need to be clarified" before the deliveries could be made.

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