Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister: "Russian Troops Seize 14 Tons of Civilian Relief Supplies"

by Mun Jewon

Published 01 Apr.2022 17:09(KST)

On the 31st of last month (local time), refugees fleeing the Russian military invasion lined up in front of the border checkpoint in Shehyni, Ukraine, to escape to Poland, relieving their hunger with convenience food. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 31st of last month (local time), refugees fleeing the Russian military invasion lined up in front of the border checkpoint in Shehyni, Ukraine, to escape to Poland, relieving their hunger with convenience food. [Image source=Yonhap News]

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Russian forces have reportedly seized 14 tons of humanitarian civilian relief supplies loaded on a bus in Ukraine.


According to the Associated Press, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk stated on the 1st (local time) that "a bus carrying food, medicine, and other supplies to the Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol was stopped by Russian troops."


She added, "Russian forces confiscated 14 tons of humanitarian aid loaded on 12 buses."


Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk also said that 45 buses that departed from the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol to evacuate civilians, under an agreement with Russian forces the previous day, were prevented from reaching their destination by Russian troops.

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Mariupol has been under intense Russian attacks since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia views Mariupol as a strategic point to connect the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region occupied by pro-Russian separatists by land.


Russian forces announced they would open a humanitarian corridor from 10 a.m. the previous day to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, but buses sent by Ukraine for civilian evacuation reportedly failed to pass through the checkpoints.



Russian forces plan to reopen the humanitarian corridor for Mariupol citizen evacuation from 10 a.m. on the 1st. This time, to ensure a secure civilian evacuation, direct participation by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is being considered.