UNITED NATIONS: Reacting to reports that a Russian aid convoy crossed on Friday the Ukrainian border without Kiev's permission, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all sides to continue to work together to ensure that humanitarian supplies reach those most in need.
"While recognizing the deteriorating humanitarian situation, any unilateral action has the potential of exacerbating an already dangerous situation in eastern Ukraine," the secretary-general said in a statement from his spokesperson.
In it, he said he is encouraged by the announcement from President Petro Poroshenko that Ukraine will do everything possible to prevent more serious consequences as a result of the convoy moving into Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the situation.
Lithuanian Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, whose country requested the urgent meeting, said the incursion of scores of Russian trucks into Ukraine without Kiev's consent was a 'violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.'
Ukraine described the convoy as an 'invasion'.
Council members held the talks behind closed doors on Friday and heard a briefing from senior UN official Oscar Fernandez-Taranco on the convoy that the West fears could be used to help separatist forces. No details were available.
At a news conference, Ukrainian Deputy Ambassador Oleksandr Pavlichenko called the Russian convoy a 'blatant violation of our sovereignty' and said Kiev was not aware of the content of the cargo.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin however provided a list of the aid including electric generators, sugar, tea and baby food, and scoffed at suggestions that these could have military purposes.
Asked about the aid helping the rebels, he responded: 'With baby food?'
"The US do not have the monopoly on humanism," Churkin said. "If you are trying to question our humanism, I would resent that."
He insisted that Russia ordered the convoy to move after multiple attempts at reaching agreement with Ukraine for the deliveries failed.
'It was time to move and so we did,' said the ambassador.
In Ukraine, discussions with officials there about the humanitarian needs of the people in the eastern part of the country have been very positive, Valerie Amos said at the start of a visit to see how aid delivery can be improved to the estimated 190,000 people currently displaced in the area.
"I would like all the parties that are involved in the conflict to remember that it is ordinary people who suffer the most when you have conflicts," the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said.
Ms. Amos, who is also the world body's Emergency Coordinator, is on a four-day visit to the country to see first-hand the situation of some of the displaced communities, including in and around the city of Donetsk where she heads tomorrow.
So far, Amos has spoken with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other officials.
"I hope that the political talks that are going on will lead to some kind of cessation of violence and a ceasefire," she said, stressing that the needs of the people affected by the fighting must be put first.
Last week, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested $33.3 million to continue to provide aid to the affected areas, including water and sanitation, shelter, health and education.
"Should the situation deteriorate further obviously we will need to review that plan," Amos said. "In the discussions that I have had with the Ukrainian Government, the discussions have been very positive with respect to ways in which we can work together."
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