The truck convoy of Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Aid Drive cannot cross the contact line again

On the 13th of June in the morning the truck convoy with humanitarian aid from Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center started from Kurakhove towards Artemivsk. The trucks cannot cross the contact line for 11 days, as "B" sector, which is aimed for humanitarian aid passage, is closed. Today the Humanitarian Center made another attempt to reach the non-government-controlled areas of Donbas through "C" sector.

The day before Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center got a permit for the convoy to pass through Artemivsk. The trucks, loaded by food aid for the most vulnerable civilians in non-government-controlled areas of Donbas, had all the required permit documents and were successfully inspected by fiscal and customs services. But at the last Ukrainian checkpoint, controlled by "Patriot" battalion, the convoy was stopped for unknown reasons and the further passage was forbidden.

"Lack of order and coordinated actions between services, who control procedures in ATO area, led to the situation when it became impossible to deliver humanitarian aid across the contact line. Only fiscal and customs services worked promptly and consistently. Fulfilling Minsk Agreement, the state should not forget about civilians, the Ukrainians in non-government-controlled areas, and introduce transparent procedures to provide them with humanitarian assistance. In my opinion, it is necessary to choose an authorized person for these issues. It may be a representative from international humanitarian missions, who also cannot deliver their humanitarian aid for more than a week, and who are closely monitoring our actions to take the same road then. We are keeping contact with OSCE, Red Cross Society and UNO. Of course, they express concern about it", – Grigory Koldunov, Director of Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center, commented the situation.

In the morning the convoy will leave for Mariupol instead of Donetsk. These food products will be used to form survival kits for IDPs, residing in government-controlled areas of Donbas, and civilians from towns and villages on the contact line.

Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center will not leave the attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to non-government-controlled areas, but also believes that a comprehensive solution of the humanitarian situation in Donbas requires systematic and concerted actions at the level of government services.

It bears reminding that due to disrupted schedule of humanitarian aid supplies to non-government-controlled areas the stocks are running out. 17 out of 27 issuing points of the Humanitarian Center are closed. The lag from the schedule makes 175,000 survival kits for adults and 10,000 children packages.

The most vulnerable categories of population in ATO area are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. According to UN estimates, there are more than 3 million people living across the contact line, most of them are experiencing significant problems with access to food. Among these people there are 365,000 elderly people and 40,000 children, who are constantly provided with aid from Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center. Every month about 500,000 people on both sides of the contact line receive the survival kits.