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Russia sent a convoy carrying what it said was humanitarian aid to rebel-held territory in Ukraine as people in Kiev marked the first anniversary of events that triggered President Viktor Yanukovychs ousting.

More than 1,200 metric tons of cargo including construction materials, clothes and medicines arrived in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, state-run television channel Rossiya 24 reported today. Russia may soon dispatch a new aid column, the Tass news service said, citing Oleg Voronov, a representative of the Emergency Situations Ministry. Ukraine has said the missions help channel arms and supplies to insurgents.

The humanitarian crisis is worsening in the two breakaway regions as the government in Kiev moved to cut off funding and services, according to the United Nations. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended church today to remember a riot-police crackdown on students in central Kiev that spurred protests leading to Yanukovychs February flight to Russia and violence erupting in the east of the country.

A year ago, after 400 riot policemen had savagely beaten 300 students on Maidan, this church became the first refuge for the injured, Poroshenko said on his Facebook page. These events have forever carved themselves into my heart.

Thousands of people gathered in the Ukrainian capital and lit candles during the night, television channel 1+1 reported on its website. Foreign diplomats attended the scene, while politicians and public figures addressed them from a stage, the station said.

The UN estimates that more than a million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighboring countries as a result of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, with 5.2 million still living in areas engulfed by the conflict.

An escalation of military activities has aggravated the security situation in the region, and led to increased uncertainty and fear among the population, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on its website. Winter temperatures, already below zero, threaten the health and wellbeing of vulnerable displaced people.

A cease-fire negotiated on Sept. 5 in Minsk, Belarus, has failed to take hold. Ukraine and its allies blame Russia for stoking the months-long conflict thats killed more than 4,300 people and left more than 10,000 wounded. The government in Moscow denies involvement.

To keep up pressure on the pro-Russian separatists, the European Union yesterday extended asset freezes and travel bans to a further 13 persons and five entities it said were involved in actions against Ukraines territorial integrity. The people include officials in Luhansk and Donetsk and those linked to organizing Nov. 2 local elections denounced as illegitimate by Ukraine and its allies.

Ukraine estimates that Russia had sent about 950 KamAZ trucks as part of its humanitarian convoys since August and suspects many of them were half-empty or carried weapons, Volodymyr Polevyi, a military spokesman in Kiev, said yesterday. Todays Russian aid mission comprised more than 800 tons of aid to Donetsk and 400 tons to the Luhansk region, according to Rossiya 24.

Link:
Russias New Aid Convoy to Rebels Riles Ukraine as Crisis Mounts