Russia's dispatch of a huge convoy of lorries carrying humanitarian aid to east Ukraine has raised suspicions about its intentions, given its support for the rebels fighting the Ukrainian government there, reports GHN based on BBC .
It is believed the aid is meant primarily for the besieged rebel-held city of Luhansk, home to 425,000 people before the conflict erupted in April and now under government siege.
After waiting more than a week, lorries began crossing the border on 22 August without Ukrainian permission or Red Cross escort, after Russia accused the authorities in Kiev of delaying the convoy's entry unreasonably.
In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the situation in Luhansk and other rebel-held areas is "critical - thousands of people are reported to be without access to water, electricity and medical aid".
On 22 August, Luhansk's city council said on its website (in Russian) that residents had entered their 20th day without electricity or running water, while neither landlines nor mobile phone connections were working.
"The bombardment does not stop," it said as Ukrainian government forces continued their siege of east Ukraine's second city.
Food, medicine and fuel had not been delivered, and wages and benefits had not been paid, for a "long time".
The daytime temperature is was as high as 30C on 22 August, compounding the misery of residents without water and no power to run fans or air conditioning.
With many people seeking refuge in other parts of Ukraine or over the border in Russia, the city's population has dropped to 250,000, the council said earlier in August.