Russian President Vladimir Putin has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that any further delay of aid delivery to Ukraine would have been unacceptable.
According to the statement released by the Kremlin press service, Putin made the comment during a phone conversation with Merkel on Friday.
“Putin stressed that considering Kiev's blatant attempts to hinder the delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to Ukrainian regions caught in humanitarian crisis, the Russian leadership has decided to move the truck convoy [across the Ukrainian border],” the statement read.
“Further delays would be inadmissible,” the statement said quoting the Russian president.
The statement also said that Putin and Merkel voiced “serious concern” over the ongoing large-scale escalation of Kiev’s military operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that has led to new casualties among the civilian population.
Earlier on Friday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on a Russian humanitarian aid convoy for the people of war-torn eastern Ukraine.
The Russian aid convoy crossed the border earlier in the day and reached the city of Luhansk.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence the pro-Russians.
Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
