Civilians in ‪‎Ukraine Suffer from ‪‎Russian Aggression

On 14 December 2015, spokesperson of the Presidential Administration on ATO-related issues Colonel Andriy Lysenko informed that Russian-backed terrorists had refused the entry of 23 trucks with ‪UN humanitarian aid, namely 430 tons of food and medicine, for residents of the territories in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian government.

“Militants stopped the trucks near the Olenivka village, Luhansk region and sent them back without any explanation”, said Colonel Andriy Lysenko.

On 11 December 2015, during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo ‪Klimkin specifically highlighted that Russia and its proxies hinder activities of the international humanitarian organizations in Donbas.

The Minister underlined that despite endless provocations and shelling by Russia-supported terrorists, Ukraine in cooperation with the OSCE and the international community undertakes every effort to implement its commitments to avert the humanitarian crisis:

•   Ukraine is paying social benefits to the residents of occupied Donbas;
•  Ukraine is supplying gas, electricity and water without any reimbursements;
•  Ukraine is establishing logistic-humanitarian centers and carrying out projects on infrastructure reconstruction.

Pavlo Klimkin underscored that since Minsk-2 was signed on 12 February 2015, Ukrainian forces and civilian locations had been shelled or attacked over 13,500 times.

The Minister also underlined that Russia must implement all core elements of the Minsk Agreements for sustainable de-escalation:

• cease armed provocations against Ukrainian forces in Donbas;
• provide full access to the OSCE missions to the state border between Russia and Ukraine to verifiably stop supporting militants in Donbas with weapons and personnel;
• withdraw its troops and weaponry from the territory of Ukraine;
• start practical discussions on modalities of reinstatement of full control of the border by Ukraine.

‪#‎StopRussianAggression