According to the administration of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, the convoy’s 300-tonne load contains Christmas presents and other aid, while the Ukrainian government sees convoys as means of supplying insurgents with weapons, Ukraine Today reports. 

Previous “aid” convoys from Russia have been condemned by the United States and NATO. Russia has never gained permission to send its convoys of trucks into Ukraine, and they have never been fully inspected by Ukrainian officials.

The convoys only ever visit areas of Ukraine where armed gunmen have seized control from the local authorities.

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