Russian aid trucks enter Ukraine without authorisation - UPDATE
Ukraine says that 34 Russian trucks carrying humanitarian aid have crossed into its territory through rebel-held territory, The Wall Street Journal Europe reports.
Earlier reports from Interfax and Reuters on Friday morning had said that a Russian humanitarian aid convoy had begun to move towards a checkpoint in Ukraine's Luhansk region.
Critically, Ukraine's state security chief reportedly said that the country will not use force against the Russian aid convoy which has entered its territory.
Reports earlier in the week cited Ukrainian officials as claiming that the rebels in that city had been cut-off by its military.
According to Reuters those vehicles heading towards Luhansk were not being escorted by personnel from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Kiev had not authorised the convoy to enter the country, Interfax added.
Interfax also indicated that the Ukrainian border guards had cleared a batch of aid and that the Russian Red Cross had agreed to accompany the convoy.
On Friday morning the International Red Cross decided not to do so due to a lack of security guarantees.
The team of Ukrainian border inspectors were later blocked from a checkpoint leading into a region of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
"Any respite in Ukraine's military offensive could allow rebels still fighting for control of Luhansk to dig in further, and indefinitely postpone any attempt to oust them," the NYT wrote.
The Russian news agency further said that another 60 trucks of Russian humanitarian aid were approaching a checkpoint in the Rostov region as they made their way towards Donetsk.
AB