Russia’s defense ministry says it has sent more than 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in addition to evacuating at least 12,000 civilians.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency International group, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday evening that the country has so far delivered about 3,200 tons of humanitarian cargo to Ukraine and 385 humanitarian actions have been taken.
The statement said: “The Russian side in the liberated territories creates all the necessary conditions for the citizens to have unhindered access to humanitarian aid. Since March 2, the Russian Federation has sent 3,175 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.”
According to the RIA Novosti website, the ministry explained that in the past day, 36 humanitarian operations have been carried out in the Kiev, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, during which 181 tons of food, health products and medicines have been delivered to civilians.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also said that Russian forces had evacuated 12,230 people from the conflict zone without the help of the Ukrainian side.
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The ministry clarified that Ukrainian organizations did not allow civilians to leave the besieged cities for safe areas, but that Russian forces had opened safe humanitarian crossings in Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.
Earlier, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations said that Moscow had withdrawn from the Security Council vote on its proposed resolution on the Ukraine crisis, adding that the Kiev regime would prevent the departure of civilians.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for assistance from the Donetsk and Luhansk republics (separatists in eastern Ukraine). Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that “demilitarization and de-Naziization” were key objectives of the operation. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine, and that the Russian armed forces are only targeting Ukraine’s military infrastructure. The United States and its allies, including Japan, have responded to Moscow’s move by imposing comprehensive sanctions on Russia.