Russia has delivered a second shipment of aid to rebel-controlled Ukraine, sending trucks carrying 2,000 tonnes of goods unaccompanied across the border, national television said today.
"The second humanitarian mission brought 2,000 tonnes of aid to Donbass," said a news ticker on Russian state-owned channel Rossiya 24, referring to the rebel-held region of east Ukraine.
"Food, medical supplies and warm clothes have been delivered to Lugansk," said another news ticker, referring to one of the most badly damaged cities in the hands of pro-Moscow separatists.
Seventy trucks have already been unloaded and are on their way back to Russia, the channel said. All vehicles are be unloaded before 2030 IST.
Russia first sent an aid convoy of more than 200 trucks in August without the final agreement of Ukraine and Red Cross monitors, sparking outrage in Kiev.
Spokespeople for the Russian emergencies ministry declined to comment, citing the sensitivity of the situation today.
The Russian state channel earlier said that the convoy of more than 300 trucks carried cereals, pasta, sugar, medicines, diesel, electricity generators and blankets.
Kiev and the rebels agreed to allow humanitarian aid into east Ukraine in a deal signed in Minsk last week.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine's war-battered east are suffering from shortages of basic supplies, a lack of running water and power due to widespread destruction from heavy shelling.
