Russian aid convoy enters Ukraine without consent

Kiev accuses Moscow of 'invasion' but says it will not attack the trucks

Part of a Russian aid convoy crossed into Ukraine on Friday without permission, the result of what Moscow said was a deliberate delay on the part of Kiev leaders.

"The Russian side decided to act," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Moscow was ready for members of the International Committee of the Red Cross to accompany the convoy and assist in distributing aid.

Local media reported that about 130 Russian trucks entered Ukraine without an ICRC escort.

Noting that Russia had agreed to all the "thinkable and unthinkable" demands from Kiev, Moscow said responsibility for any consequences of provocation will be "fully on those who are ready to sacrifice human lives for the sake of political ambitions and geopolitical plans."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a local TV channel that President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the situation but declined to say on what level the decision was made.

Ukraine accused Moscow of invading after Russia unilaterally sent the first part of its mammoth aid convoy into eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described the entry of the trucks as a "flagrant violation of international law."

"This is a direct invasion," the head of Ukraine's security service, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, also said.

Ukraine and Russia both said the other side was responsible for the convoy's security, and Russia's foreign ministry warned against "any attempts to disrupt a totally humanitarian mission".

Kiev condemned Moscow's "deliberate and aggressive" move and said border guards were blocked from checking the contents of most of the white trucks.

Ukraine won't attack the convoy and wants to avoid any "provocations", Nalyvaichenko said on Friday.

"Ukraine will liaise with the International Committee of the Red Cross so that we, Ukraine, are not involved in (accusations of) provocations that we have been holding up or using force against the vehicles of so-called aid," he told journalists.

Asked if Ukraine would use airstrikes against the convoy that is traveling through rebel-controlled Ukrainian territory, Nalyvaichenko said: "Against them, no."

On Thursday, Ukraine granted official permission for the clearance of the Russian humanitarian cargo that has been stuck near the border for a week. The 280-truck convoy carried some 2,000 tons of food, medicine, sleeping bags and power generators.

Still, customs clearance was halted by the Ukrainian side on the same day, Russia said.

Moscow accused Kiev of deliberately delaying the aid delivery with the purpose of completing a military operation in Lugansk and Donetsk by Ukraine's Independence Day on Aug 24 and to use it as a "fait accompli" during the upcoming four-party meeting in the Belorussian capital of Minsk.

Xinhua - APF - Reuters

(China Daily 08/23/2014 page12)