Russia wants to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, introducing a likely new topic of discord on the eve of crucial talks between the two countries' leaders, according to The Associated Press.
Ukraine and Western governments have repeatedly accused Russia of arming pro-Moscow separatists who took over parts of eastern Ukraine in April and are still holding out in the face of a steady advance by Ukrainian government forces, according to the AP.
Kiev accused Russia on Monday of trying to open up a second, southern front against its forces, saying Russian forces in the guise of separatist rebels had crossed into Ukrainian forces with armor, the AP reported.
Ukraine and its Western allies denounced the arrival of a first huge convoy that crossed the border last week without Kiev's permission, but Lavrov said more aid was needed to ease the plight of civilians caught up in four months of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military, the AP reported.
"The humanitarian situation is not improving but deteriorating," Lavrov told a news conference, according to the AP. "We want to reach an agreement on all conditions for delivering a second convoy by the same route... in the coming days."
The first convoy of more than 200 Russian trucks crossed into Ukraine last Friday, prompting the Ukrainian state security chief to denounce it as "a direct invasion," the AP reported. The trucks withdrew again at the weekend and Lavrov said the aid was now being distributed.
A column of five trucks carrying fuel and ammunition was seen Wednesday morning by the AP.
The trucks were covered with tarps, some of the boxes of ammunition were visible in the open back of one of the trucks, but the trucks were later seen returning, empty, the AP reported.
