Some 280 Kamaz trucks carrying food, medication, and drinking water were sent out by Russia’s Emergencies Ministry from the Moscow region on Tuesday morning, Russian media reported.

“The contact group has decided on Monday that the humanitarian aid convoys will cross over at the Kharkov Oblast border. The Lugansk route has also been agreed upon,” Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s second President and the mediator in the operation told journalists.

He added that “the aid will be distributed by the Red Cross – the convoy will be accompanied by representatives from the OSCE.”

“The convoy will deliver to the inhabitants of eastern Ukraine around 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid collected by Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region,” the administration of the Moscow region told Ria Novosti.

Among the provisions is also aid from Ukraine, the United States and the European Union.

It includes 400 tons of grains, 100 tons of sugar, and 62 tons of baby food, as well as 54 tons of medical equipment and medication. The convoy will also deliver around 12,000 sleeping bags and 69 power generators of various types.

“It is of the utmost importance that the distribution be carried out in hospitals, kindergartens, foster homes and other institutions helping the needy and underprivileged. Not a gram must reach the militants,” Kuchma, told journalists.

The humanitarian mission is carried out without any participation of the Russian military, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized earlier.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso earlier on Monday that Russia, in cooperation with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, is sending a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine.

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