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All trucks of Russia’s 11th humanitarian convoy for east Ukraine arrive in Rostov Region

They will deliver about 1,400 metric tons of humanitarian aid, including foodstuffs and articles of prime necessity

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. All trucks of Russia’s 11th humanitarian convoy for eastern Ukraine have arrived in the southern Russian Rostov Region, where the convoy will be finally formed, the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS.

“All trucks have arrived from the Noginsk rescue center (Moscow Region) at the village of Kovalyovka, the local rescue center Donskoy. They are empty now, they will be loaded tomorrow, the formation of the convoy will continue,” a ministry spokesman said.

More than 120 trucks will make part of the convoy, including trucks from other Russian regions. They will deliver about 1,400 metric tons of humanitarian aid, including foodstuffs and articles of prime necessity. The vehicles are expected to arrive in Donetsk and Lugansk through the Matveyev Kurgan and Donetsk border crossing points.

Overall, 10 Russian convoys have delivered more than 13,000 tons of humanitarian cargoes to Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk regions) since August 2014.

Over 4,000 people have lost their lives and hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine’s southeast as a result of clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April, to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, according to United Nations data.

A ceasefire was agreed upon at talks between the parties to the Ukrainian conflict mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.

Numerous violations of the ceasefire, which took effect the same day, have been reported since.

A memorandum was adopted on September 19 in Minsk by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The document outlined the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.

The nine-point memorandum in particular envisioned a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.

A "day of silence" in eastern Ukraine began at 09:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on December 9. It was seen as another attempt by both parties to the intra-Ukrainian conflict to put an end to hostilities.