With heavy fighting underway in south-eastern Ukraine, the distribution of humanitarian aid from Russia has started in the city of Lugansk, which is besieged by the Kiev forces.
The first 12 points distributing food have already begun working.
The minimum offering includes rice, buckwheat and sugar, three
canned meats, a packet of tea and 10 liters of water, Novorossiya
news agency reports.
Kindergartens, schools and other social facilities were the first
to receive the aid.
The city said it was planning to open another 37 aid distribution
points in the coming days.
The Russian aid convoy of 227 trucks arrived in the city on
Friday, bringing almost 2,000 tons of relief supplies.
However, the humanitarian situation remains “critical” in Lugansk
as the people are forced to survive without electricity, water
and communications due to ongoing fighting between the Kiev
troops and the local self-defense forces, Lugansk City Council
said.
“Every day, firefights and shelling lead to new destruction of
urban infrastructure and homes as well as combustions and
fires,” the local authorities said.
Earlier on Monday, Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has voiced plans for a second aid
convoy to be sent to eastern Ukraine, urging foreign actors and
agencies to participate in continuing efforts at relieving the
“humanitarian crisis”.
The bread is being baked and is always on sale in Lugansk, but
the City Council expressed concern that problems with water
supply may result in spread of infectious diseases.
According to Kiev, the Ukrainian forces were able to entrench
themselves in the northern part of Lugansk.
The army plans to use the area as foothold to begin its offensive
on the rest of the city, Andrey Lysenko, Ukraine’s National
Security Council spokesman, said.
However, Lysenko stressed that “most of the Lugansk” remains
under control of the self-defense forces of the Lugansk People’s
Republic.
Kiev fires ballistic missile at Donetsk
The hostilities continued in Donetsk on Monday, with the mayor’s
office speaking of explosions, which are heard “in all
districts” of the besieged city.
“The epicenter of the fighting is now Kirovsky and Petrovsky
districts [in the south-west of city],” the Donetsk
authorities said.
Kiev has started using ballistic missiles against the
self-defense forces in Donetsk, a RIA-Novosti news agency’s
correspondent reported from the scene.
The Tochka-U missile, which is believed to be the most powerful
weapon in the arsenal of the country’s military, hit a miners’
village on the outskirts of the city on the eve of Ukrainian
Independence Day on August 24, he stressed.
The rocket’s cluster exploded in the air, damaging several
buildings in the Kirovsky district and gravely injuring three
people, including a mother of three children, the self-defense
forces said.
Tochka-U is a Soviet-era short-range tactical ballistic missile,
which was introduced back in 1989.
The missile is designed to make precise strikes on enemy tactical
targets and can also carry nuclear, biological or chemical
warheads.
Previously, the Ukrainian authorities have denied accusations
that they used Tochka-U missiles during their operations in
Lugansk, Snezhnoe, Shakhters and several other south-eastern
cities.
On Sunday, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) has
released a special report on civilian fatalities and damage
following the shelling of a residential area in the north of
Donetsk on August 23.
“At the scene, the SMM saw a five-floor apartment block with
the ground in front of it littered with debris. Some sixty
civilians, mainly elderly and in shock, were standing in the
vicinity. Close to a footpath leading to one of the entrances,
the SMM observed three bodies covered with blankets, judged by
SMM to be two adults and a child, in close proximity to each
other,” the report said.
“Local residents told the SMM that the three were a mother,
father and their child. They said that another child, five years
old and the fourth family member, died on the way to the
hospital, as a result of head injuries,” it added.
The monitors also a nearby three-floor building, a garage and a
kindergarten damaged by “what appeared to have been
shelling.”
“The SMM saw a kindergarten, with the window panes of its second
floor shattered and children’s toys scattered around,” the report
said.
Anti-Kiev forces enter Elenovka village
The self-defense forces have entered the Elenovka village outside
Donetsk, the press-service for the Defense Ministry of the
self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk said.
The advancement came as a result of the “offensive
reconnaissance” by the militias, the press-service stressed.
According to the self-defense forces, the Kiev troops were
dislodged from two check points, with three Ukrainian soldiers
taken prisoner.
The anti-Kiev rebels also seized two Rapira anti-tank guns, MT-LB
armored personnel carrier with a mounted anti-aircraft
twin-barreled auto-cannon and two transport vehicles, the
ministry told Itar-Tass news agency.
However, the agency stressed that the info coming from the rebels
isn’t confirmed by any other sources.
Earlier on the day, it was reported that the militias have
enveloped a large grouping of Ukrainian military in Elenovka.
The self-defense forces said that around 2,000 Kiev troops, more
than a hundred armored vehicles and 60 artillery pieces of
various calibers were trapped.
According to People’s Republic of Donetsk staff, Kiev has lost
182 troops (107 killed and 75 injured) in fighting in Donetsk
Region during the last 24 hours.
However, Ukraine’s National Security Council spokesman, Andrey
Lysenko, said that only 4 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 31
others injured.
Kiev’s military crackdown on in the south-east of the country
started in April after the people in Donetsk and Lugansk Region
refused to recognize the new coup-imposed authorities and
demanded federalization of the country.
According to UN’s estimates, over 2,000 people have so far been
killed and over 5,000 wounded in the fighting.