KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russia - A large Russian aid convoy rolled toward the Ukrainian border on Thursday — but headed toward a crossing controlled by pro-Russian rebels instead of a government post as Ukraine had demanded. Ukraine's government threatened to block the convoy if the cargo couldn't be inspected and announced it was organizing its own aid shipment to the war-wracked separatist region of Luhansk.
The Russian convoy of more than 200 vehicles had been parked at a military depot in the southern Russian city of Voronezh since late Tuesday amid disagreement over how and where the aid could be delivered to war-wracked eastern Ukraine. They drove Thursday down a highway then turned west toward the rebel-held border crossing of Izvaryne. But the trucks soon parked in a large field where tents were set up, making it unclear whether the convoy would cross into Ukraine on Thursday. The route suggested Russia was intent on not abiding by a tentative agreement to deliver aid to a government-controlled border checkpoint in the Kharkiv region, where it could more easily be inspected by Ukraine and the Red Cross.
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