UN humanitarian convoy arrives in LPR via Schastye checkpoint

Trucks with relief supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross have arrived in the Lugansk People’s Republic via the Schastye-Lugansk crossing point, which remains closed to people and vehicles, the LPR Foreign Ministry reported on its Telegram channel.

“Three trucks of the ICRC humanitarian aid convoy arrived in the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic via the Lugansk-Schastye crossing point, which has not been opened yet. The total weight of relief supplies is 24 tons,” the report said.

The supplies include medical equipment and supplies, furniture and equipment for children educational and medical institutions.

Earlier, LPR representative in the Contact Group humanitarian subgroup Olga Kobtseva said that Ukraine had deliberately sabotaged the opening of the new crossing points in the Schastye and Zolotoye areas.

LPR representative at the Minsk talks, the Republic’s Foreign Minister Vladislav Deinego said that the decision on simultaneous opening of two new crossing points “Lugansk-Schastye” and “Pervomaisk-Zolotoye” would be postponed until Ukraine had provided written confirmation of the earlier accords.

In March 2020, the LPR and Kiev agreed to set up two new crossing points on the contact line in the Schastye and Zolotoye areas; the works on the facilities were launched in July. Having failed to coordinate the key points of the crossing points’ operation, including security issues, Ukraine unilaterally opened them on November 10. The Republic called the move a provocation and a threat to the persons who cross the contact line and demanded that Kiev begin a dialogue to resolve the problems and launch full-fledged operation of the crossing points. Currently there is only one official checkpoint on contact line in the LPR area of responsibility in Donbass and it is accessible via the bridge in the vicinity of Stanitsa Luganskaya.

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. Conflict settlement relies on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarussian capital by the Contact Group members and coordinated by the Normandy Four heads of states (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine). The UN Security Council approved the document by Resolution No 2202 of February UN17, 2015 and called upon the parties to ensure its implementation.

The document provides for comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of all heavy weapons from the contact line, starting a dialog on reconstruction of social and economic ties between Kiev and Donbass. It also envisages carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine providing for decentralization and adopting permanent legislation on a special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. *t