The White House has condemned the movement of the Russian humanitarian convoy into Ukraine without Kyiv' accord, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama said at a press conference on Aug. 22.
“We very much condemn the violation flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty that we saw today with the movement of this Russian convoy into Ukraine,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said that “the government of Ukraine did not give agreement for this convoy to move within their borders.”
“I think this is part of a pattern that we’ve seen in recent weeks and that we’ve highlighted of Russian support to armed separatists in eastern Ukraine that violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and destabilizes the situation,” he said.
“So we are deeply concerned about this. We’re in touch with the Ukrainian government. We will be in touch today with our partners at the U.N. Security Council to discuss next steps,” Rhodes said.
“Russia should take the opportunity to remove this convoy from within Ukraine. If they don’t, they will face additional costs and consequences from the United States and our partners in the international community,” he added.
