Agreement on new shipment of humanitarian aid

Agreement on new shipment of humanitarian aid

MINSK -- Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Moscow should send humanitatrian aid to Ukraine.

According to reports, this will happen under the auspices of the ICRC and in cooperation with Kiev.

Putin and Poroshenko agreed yesterday during a meeting in Minsk that "assistance will be given under the auspices of the ICRC and in full cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities," said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He told Itar-Tass that the two leaders "focused on the need to continue sending aid as the humanitarian disaster unfolds in the eastern regions of Ukraine."

Putin and Poroshenko on Tuesday in Minsk also announced that a "road map" would be prepared with the goal of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in the east of Ukraine.

They also said they had agreed that the Contact Group on the Ukrainian crisis should renew its work as soon as possible in the Belarus capital.

Russian news agencies quoted a statement of Putin that he "did not specifically discuss the conditions for a ceasefire" with Poroshenko.

"Frankly speaking, we cannot talk about conditions for a ceasefire, about possible agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk - it's not a matter for us, but for Ukraine itself," Putin said as quoted by Itar-Tass.

According to him, Russia can only contribute to creating trust "in the course of this possible and, in my opinion, very necessary, negotiating process."

Assessing the talks with his Ukrainian counterpart as positive, Putin said that Moscow will, for its part, "do everything for that peace process, if it starts."