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           Ukraine Border Guards Begin Approval of Russian Aid Convoy

   by VOA News

   Ukrainian border guards on Thursday began checks on a Russian truck
   convoy that is carrying aid earmarked for humanitarian relief in
   eastern Ukraine, the border guards service said.

   "I can confirm that at 2:15 p.m. [local time] the Ukrainian side began
   border-customs formalities relating to the Russian humanitarian cargo,"
   border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told Reuters.

   Asked on whose territory the cargo was, he replied: "On the territory
   of the Russian border point."

   Also, two [1]International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) jeeps
   crossed into Ukraine from Russia and were seen heading inside the
   war-torn region of Luhansk.

   The Ukrainian border guard service said Thursday that behind the Red
   Cross jeeps, some Russian trucks in the aid convoy were clearing
   customs.

   An Associated Press journalist saw the two Red Cross jeeps heading to
   an unknown destination after passing through the rebel-held Izvaryne
   border post on Thursday.

   Delays early on Thursday

   Earlier Thursday, ICRC officials said Ukrainian authorities had delayed
   the delivery of Russian aid to eastern Ukraine, but efforts were under
   way to allow the stalled convoy to proceed.

   The convoy of more than 200 trucks intended for the city of Luhansk has
   been stuck at the Russia-Ukraine border for a week because Ukraine is
   worried that it could be used to deliver military supplies to
   pro-Russian separatists. Moscow said the mission is purely humanitarian
   and intended for civilians trapped by the conflict.

   The ICRC, an independent aid agency, has sent 35 staff to help smooth
   the way for the roughly 260 Russian trucks parked near Rostov. It had
   expected cargo inspections to begin late Wednesday, before the convoy
   headed into rebel-held Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

   "An ICRC team visited Luhansk to check the roads and establish contacts
   for the delivery of the convoy, having received security guarantees for
   the mission," ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson told Reuters in Geneva on
   Thursday.

   "Local authorities" in Luhansk, a city held by the separatists, have
   made preliminary arrangements to receive the Russian convoy, he said.
   The ICRC then called for the immediate inspection of the trucks in
   order to proceed as soon as possible, he added.

   Luhansk has been largely cut off for weeks and is without water and
   regular supplies of electricity, which have hit mobile and landline
   phone connections.
   Heavy shelling hit residential neighbourhoods in Ukraine's rebel
   stronghold of Donetsk and government forces fought street battles in
   other towns on Wednesday as they sought to crush a four-month-old
   separatist rebellion.

   The forces of the Western-backed Kyiv government are steadily gaining
   the upper hand over the separatists in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine
   and are tightening the noose around the main rebel bastions of Donetsk
   and Luhansk.

   Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AP.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-ukraine-delays-russian-aid-convoy
   /2423076.html

References

   1. http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2014/08-21-ukraine-lugansk-urgent-needs-aid.htm
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-ukraine-delays-russian-aid-convoy/2423076.html