A humanitarian convoy being sent to eastern Ukraine by Russia will not be admitted into the country, a Ukrainian security spokesman says.

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said the convoy is not certified by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

A convoy of 280 Russian trucks headed for Ukraine, one day after agreement was reached on an international humanitarian relief mission.

But the Red Cross, which is due to coordinate the operation, said it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going. That has raised fears in Ukraine and the West, where leaders have voiced concerns that Russia could use the initiative as a pretext for sending troops into separatist-held territory.

Russian media reported that 2,000 tonnes of aid was en route to Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government forces has claimed more than 1,300 lives since April, according to a UN report.

NTV television showed hundreds of white trucks gathered at a depot outside Moscow, and said they were carrying everything from baby food to sleeping bags. A Russian Orthodox priest sprinkled holy water on the trucks, some of which bore a red cross, before their departure.

But Lysenko said: "This convoy is not a certified convoy. It is not certified by the International Committee of the Red Cross."

Lysenko also showed a covertly filmed video appearing to show vehicles similar to the white-canopied trucks dispatched from Moscow parked at a military base in Russia.

One frame displayed by Lysenko shows uniformed troops lined up in front of one the trucks.

Andre Loersch, a spokesman for the ICRC mission in Ukraine, said that while the organisation had reached a general agreement about delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, he had "no information about the content" of the trucks and did not know where they were headed.

"At this stage we have no agreement on this, and it looks like the initiative of the Russian Federation," he said.

The Ukrainian government has insisted that aid must cross at a government-held border crossing. At least 60 miles of the border is currently in rebel hands.

Alexander Drobyshevsky, a spokesman for Russia's emergency ministry that is conducting the mission, said his organisation had "not yet defined" where the trucks would cross the border. He said it could take several days for them to reach Ukraine.

Some of the heaviest impact on civilians from fighting has been seen in Luhansk - the rebel-held capital of the Luhansk province that had a pre-war population of 420,000. In their latest status update, city authorities said the 250,000 residents remaining had had no electricity or water supplies for nine days. Much of the border with Luhansk province is under separatist control.

Kiev and the West have repeatedly opposed any Russian humanitarian aid mission to eastern Ukraine, fearing that such a move could preface an intervention by Moscow. Throughout the conflict, Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of aiding the rebels with arms and expertise, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.

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