By ALEXANDER ROSLYAKOV and SERGEI GRITS
A Russian convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Ukraine drives along a road on August 12, 2014.
VORONEZH, Russia (AP) — Hundreds of Russian trucks carrying aid intended for rebel-held eastern Ukraine remained parked Wednesday in the southern city of Voronezh, their fate shrouded in mystery as Ukraine accused Moscow of plotting to use them as a cover for invasion.
Fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists increased as the U.N.'s human rights office released figures showing the number of people killed in eastern Ukraine appears to have doubled in the last two weeks to more than 2,000.
Other than a few local supply runs, the roughly 280 vehicles in the convoy lay idle at a military base in the southern city of Voronezh well into the afternoon, one day after making the 400-mile (650-kilometer) drive from outside Moscow.
Ukraine and Russia tentatively agreed Tuesday that the aid would be delivered to a government-controlled crossing in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which hasn't been hit by the months of fighting that have wracked neighboring regions. The cargo would then have to be inspected by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
But accord has soured into acrimony, with the spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accusing Moscow on Wednesday of possibly planning a "direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid."
Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said "nobody knows" where the convoy is going but he had information it won't go through Kharkiv.
If the convoy goes further south across a border region under the control of the pro-Russian separatists the government has been battling for four months, that would certainly not involve the Red Cross and will be viewed with profound hostility by the Ukrainian government.
Lysenko said any deliveries of aid "that don't have the mandate of the Red Cross ... are taken as aggressive forces and the response will be adequate to that."
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, insisted the aid convoy was on the move inside Russia, but declined to comment on the route. He said the operation was proceeding in full cooperation with the Red Cross.
But Red Cross officials in Ukraine said they have been left in the dark about the whereabouts of the Russian aid.
"The final route is not known. Even at the moment I am trying to find out where the convoy is," said Andre Loersch, a spokesman for the ICRC mission in Ukraine.
Amid the tensions, Putin traveled to Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in March, where he chaired a session of his Security Council. A meeting with Putin's entire Cabinet and most Russian lawmakers is scheduled for Thursday.
Russia says the 1,800 metric tons of aid includes goods ranging from baby food and canned meat to portable generators and sleeping bags. It's intended for civilians in the Luhansk region, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting. The regional capital of Luhansk has had no electricity for 11 days and only the most essential goods are available, city authorities say.
Government troops have laid siege to Donetsk and nearby rebel holdings in their push to quash the pro-Russian insurgency. They have largely refrained from street-to-street fighting, favoring often inaccurate rocket fire.
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's map of the military situation on Augut 13 2014.
Residents said the intermittent artillery barrage lasted around two hours. City authorities said 10 residential buildings and the wing of a hospital were struck.
Associated Press reporters saw two bodies lying in a street Wednesday morning in the city's southwestern Petrovsky district.
The shelling has damaged power plants and gas pipelines, leaving large parts of the city without electricity or gas.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine began in April, a month after Putin annexed Crimea.
ICRC says it needs detailed list of convoy goods from Russia
Russia has given a "general list" of goods on its relief convoy to Ukrainian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross, but the aid agency needs a detailed inventory to be able to receive them, an ICRC spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The independent agency has been holding talks with Ukrainian and Russian authorities on delivering Russia's proposed aid to eastern Ukraine, but on Monday laid down strict guidelines to uphold its neutral role in conflicts.
"The Russian authorities have shared a general list of items with the Ukrainian authorities and the ICRC. The list includes basic necessities such as water bottles, food items, as well as generators," ICRC spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk told Reuters.
"A detailed inventory of the contents of the trucks is needed for the ICRC to receive this aid, once it has been officially cleared by Ukrainian border officials."
Russia said on Wednesday suggestions it could use the humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine as a cover for invasion were absurd.
The UN said the death toll in fighting had doubled in the last two weeks to over 2,000.
"A number of important issues still need to be clarified between the two sides, including border crossing procedures, customs clearance and other issues," Isyuk said.
The situation was changing by the hour and the ICRC could not provide further details on how the operation could take place, she said.
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