(Institute for War & Peace Reporting) Russian Aid Convoy Set to Enter Ukraine – An agreement to allow Russia to deliver humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine seems near after Kiev dropped its objections to the fleet of trucks entering its territory. Tensions over the convoy have been rising since 280 Russian military trucks – repainted from khaki to white – left Moscow on August 12.
The Russian authorities declared that the convoy was loaded with aid including 400 tonnes of cereals, 100 tonnes of sugar, 62 tonnes of baby food and 54 tonnes of medicine as well as 12,000 sleeping bags and other essentials. While acknowledging the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the country’s east, which has seen heavy fighting between government troops and separatists, Kiev suspects the aid convoy might be a Trojan horse. […]
According to Olexiy Haran, politics professor at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, “On the one hand, Putin is continuously provoking Ukrainians into an armed response. But the incursion of Russian military equipment into Ukraine does not mean an escalation of the conflict, because it has already been going on for a long time. The only difference is that it was recorded by Western journalists for the first time.
“On the other hand, Putin is manoeuvring, because a direct military intervention would be extremely dangerous for him. He wants to pull back, but in a way so that everyone thinks that he actually won.”
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