Ukrainian border guards began on Thursday to inspect a Russian truck convoy carrying aid earmarked for humanitarian relief in eastern Ukraine that has been stranded at the border between the two former Soviet republics for nearly a week.
Ukraine's border guard service said that its troops had begun checking the first vehicles in the more than 200-truck convoy as they finally begin the process of entering Ukraine.
The convoy had been waiting at the border for a series of formal steps to be completed, including inspection by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Red Cross had waited several days for security guarantees from all sides before approaching the convoy.
Russian Convoy Moves Into Ukraine
Two jeeps passed through the Izvaryne border post on Thursday and were seen heading inside the war-torn region of Luhansk.
The Ukrainian border guard service said that behind the Red Cross jeeps, some Russian trucks in the aid convoy were clearing customs.
It was not clear when the trucks would finally be authorized to enter Ukrainian territory, which at that border point is under rebel control. The rebels granted Kyiv's border guards permission to access the crossing to check the trucks.
A Reuters witness saw 16 trucks move into territory beyond the Russian checkpoint, later followed by a second mini-convoy of 16 vehicles.
Aid for Luhansk
Kyiv believes the convoy of about 260 trucks, carrying water, food and medicines, could prove a Trojan horse for Russia to get weapons to pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces in the region - a notion that Moscow has dismissed as absurd.
Luhansk has been largely cut off for weeks and is without water and regular supplies of electricity, which have hit mobile and landline phone connections.
Kyiv and its Western allies accuse Moscow of supporting and arming the rebels. Moscow denies such allegations but has warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in eastern Ukraine.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AP.
