Russia: Aid convoy of more than 200 trucks crossed Ukraine border without permission-Official.


Lorries, part of a Russian humanitarian convoy, cross the Ukrainian border on September 13, 2014.
Lorries, part of a Russian humanitarian convoy, cross the Ukrainian border on September 13, 2014.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • A convoy of trucks is carrying humanitarian aid to Luhansk, Russian state media says
  • Ukrainian Border Service official says 217 Russian trucks entered Ukraine
  • Ukrainian authorities were not able to check the trucks, he says
  • The European Union and United States have imposed fresh sanctions against Russia.
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- A convoy of more than 200 trucks that Russia says is carrying humanitarian aid has crossed the border into Ukraine without permission, a senior Ukrainian Border Service official said Saturday.
Col. Serhiy Astahov, assistant to the Ukrainian Border Service chief, told CNN that 217 trucks have crossed the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian border guards and customs officer did not have access to them to check what they were carrying, he said.
Russian state-run news agency Itar-Tass said the convoy, which it said had 200 trucks, had been cleared by Russian customs control staff, citing the press service of the Russian Southern Customs Department.
The convoy is bound for the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk. The city has been impacted by months of fighting between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces.
Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said the convoy was carrying 2,000 tons of supplies, including food, water purifying equipment and power generators.
A previous convoy sent from Russia last month, also without permission from Ukraine, delivered aid to Luhansk too. Ukrainian authorities raised concerns that it might be used to resupply rebel fighters.
A fragile ceasefire agreed to just over a week ago continues to hold in eastern Ukraine.
Sanctions
A new round of EU sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine came into effect Friday, targeting six companies and a number of Russian officials and separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.
This was a day after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that, in coordination with the European Union, "we will intensify our coordinated sanctions on Russia in response to its illegal actions in Ukraine."
Russia in return accused the United States of once again escalating the crisis -- undermining the chances for peace there as well as the greater quest for "global stability."
Kiev and the West accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of arming and supporting the pro-Russia rebels, and of sending Russian troops into Ukraine.
A NATO military officer said Thursday that Russia has about 1,000 troops inside eastern Ukraine, down from a significantly higher number in recent weeks.
NATO also sees 20,000 more Russian troops aligned along the border, according to the NATO officer, who was not named according to standard practice in the organization.
Yatsenyuk: Values outweigh tanks
Speaking at Ukraine's biggest annual political forum, the YES Forum, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that the latest round of sanctions are "the real threat" to the Russian economy.
"Putin's idea was to split the unity among EU member states and to split the unity between the U.S. and the EU. And at a certain period of time I was thinking even that he succeed. But no, he failed," he said.
"Values, EU values, and values of freedom and democracy are much stronger than Russian tanks and artillery and his autocratic regime."
Yatsenyuk claimed that Putin's ultimate goal was "not to just take Donetsk and Luhansk, his goal is to take the entire Ukraine.
"He cannot cope with an idea that Ukraine would be a part of the big EU family. He wants to restore the Soviet Union."
A day earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the same forum that the latest sanctions against Russia demonstrate Europe's unity and solidarity with Ukraine.
"It shows how close Ukraine is for every leader, every European country," said Poroshenko.cnn.

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