Russia is sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine's conflict-hit east with the help of pro-Kremlin rebels, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said today, the first time Moscow has explicitly acknowledged links to the militants.
"In late May we applied to the (Ukraine) authorities with an official request to get permission to deliver such aid," Lavrov told OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier in Moscow, reported the Interfax news agency.
"We have received a rejection through an official note that is why we are providing assistance through the existing means with the support from rebels who are concerned how their wives, children, fathers and mothers are coping with these difficulties.
