Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed with the Ukrainian leader that Moscow will send aid to eastern Ukraine under the aegis of the International Red Cross and in cooperation with Kiev, his spokesman said today.
Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed at talks in Minsk yesterday that "aid will be given under the aegis of the Red Cross and in full coordination with the Ukrainian authorities," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
The leaders "focused on the need to continue to provide help as a humanitarian catastrophe develops in eastern regions of Ukraine," Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Moscow planned to send a second aid convoy to eastern Ukraine "this week", after a first convoy of trucks delivering food, medicine and generators made it to the rebel-controlled region on August 22.
Putin told journalists after his bilateral talks with Poroshenko that the two leaders had discussed the need to provide aid to the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Lugansk and reached "certain agreements."
Putin added that he would not "run ahead" and reveal details. "We'll see how to do it," he said.
