The suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries from Russia to the eastern Ukrainian breakaway region of Donbas is due to ongoing assessment of Donbas residents' needs and does not mean that Russia has given up on this practice, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) The suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries from Russia to the eastern Ukrainian breakaway region of Donbas is due to ongoing assessment of Donbas residents' needs and does not mean that Russia has given up on this practice, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
The latest Russian humanitarian assistance convoy arrived in Donbas on December 20.
"No ... this does not mean that this practice has been disrupted. Assessment of [residents'] needs is underway there, and decisions are made depending on how these needs ... call for such aid. This does not mean any change in policies, neither a systemic one nor some other kind," Peskov told reporters.
The conflict in Donbas started in February 2014, when Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics that refused to recognize the new government in Kiev, which came to power after what they considered to be a coup.
Since August 2014, Russia has been providing humanitarian assistance to the residents of the crisis-torn region.
In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.
Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is not party to the internal conflict in Ukraine and wanted Kiev to overcome political and economic crisis.
