DONETSK, Russia – Hundreds of Russian aid trucks returned home from rebel-held eastern Ukraine on Saturday, highlighting a dire need for long-term assistance to the region where homes and livelihoods have been destroyed by months of fighting.
Ahead of a much-anticipated meeting Tuesday between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks in Kiev with Ukrainian officials and expressed hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict that has killed more than 2,000 people.
Russia unilaterally sent hundreds of aid trucks into Ukraine through a rebel-held border point Friday, saying it had lost patience with Ukraine’s delaying tactics, a move that Ukraine promptly described as an invasion.
An Associated Press reporter on the Ukrainian side of the border was able to look inside about 40 of the white-tarpaulined tractor-trailers and confirmed they were empty. Russia said the trucks carried only food, water, generators and sleeping bags to the hard-hit rebel stronghold of Luhansk.
Ukraine and others – including the U.S., the European Union and NATO – denounced the Russian move as a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Kiev and Western countries also suggested the convoy could be smuggling in supplies and reinforcements to the pro-Russian separatists fighting the government.
It remained unclear what the Russian convoy had actually delivered since it only arrived late Friday and unloading all those trucks in just a few hours in a war zone represents a sizeable task. AP journalists following the convoy said rattling sounds Friday indicated many of the trucks were not fully loaded.
In towns and cities recaptured by Ukrainian forces from the rebels, the need for something more long term than a one-time delivery of food and water is glaring. Assistance has been trickling in from the government and international donors, but it is still not enough.
Residents in the city of Slovyansk, which endured a weekslong siege before the rebels left town in July, were caught between government forces and the separatists for several months and now are largely left on their own after devastating artillery strikes.
Valerie Amos, who oversees U.N. emergency assistance programs, visited Slovyansk on Saturday to inspect aid efforts.
“This is particularly difficult in some areas in the eastern part of the country where there is ongoing fighting,” Amos told the AP.
Rebels have rejected overtures by authorities to provide territory under their control with much-needed aid.
Leonard reported from Slovyansk, Ukraine; Nataliya Vasilyeva in Kiev, Mstyslav Chernov in Izvaryne, Jim Heintz in Moscow and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
