Moscow - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has told German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel on the phone that Kyiv is prepared to send a humanitarian mission to Luhansk.
“The president called attention to the effort of the Ukrainian
authorities to start humanitarian assistance to cities. For instance,
specialists may be sent to Luhansk for repairing power plants and water
mains and food may be delivered,” says a report posted by the
presidential press service.
Following negotiations with International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) President Peter Maurer and other international partners, a
possibility to send a humanitarian mission to Luhansk is being
considered, Poroshenko said.
“We are ready to accept humanitarian aid but only if this mission is
international and devoid of a military element, comes exclusively
through border checkpoints controlled by Ukrainian border guards and is
accompanied by Ukrainian servicemen for the sake of the mission’s
security,” the president emphasized.
In the words of Merkel, Germany and its allies insist that any
humanitarian mission must be arranged exclusively in conformity with
international laws, only through UN or ICRC channels and strictly by
agreement of Ukraine.
The German chancellor said their position was clear – “any
intervention even if it is called humanitarian is still an intervention
and this is a red line no country must cross.”
