DONETSK, Ukraine—The race is on to rush aid to desperate residents in Ukraine’s war-torn east.

Kiev said on Wednesday that it will send its own convoy of humanitarian relief to the suffering civilians of the Donbass (as the eastern regions are known) in an attempt to beat out a massive convoy of Russian trucks supposedly carrying aid to the country’s border.

Nearly 300 military trucks painted white and covered in tarpaulin left Moscow on Tuesday and trundled their way toward the Ukrainian frontier and another possible confrontation, stopping in the town of Voronezh, about 200 miles from the border crossing nearest Luhansk.

Trucks! Looks like at least part of #Russia's convoy still in Voronezh. White line of trucks in distance. pic.twitter.com/Rrb2aSFPyq — Tom Barton (@TomBartonJourno) August 13, 2014

The convoy left a military base near Moscow on Tuesday. Russia dispatched the 280 or so trucks from a military base south of Moscow. The Kremlin has insisted that they are carrying only aid to for civilians in Luhansk who have been without power, running water and dwindling food supplies for weeks. It said the supplies are being delivered under the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), however, said it was “still waiting for Ukraine and Russia to clarify practical details of aid convoy, such as border crossing and customs clearance.”

The organization, tasked with coordinating all aid shipments to eastern Ukraine, said it is uncertain exactly what cargo is carried inside the hundreds of Kamaz military trucks, which are adorned with the ICRC’s distinct marking despite the fact that it has not licensed them to move into Ukraine.

Ukraine has vowed to stop the trucks when they reach the border and only let the aid pass through if it is transferred to vehicles authorized by the Red Cross. Russia has said it would not allow the materials to be transferred. The European Union said the contents would need to be scrutinized at the border before crossing.

“We are currently waiting for an exact description of the Russian goods," a Ukrainian Red Cross spokesperson in Kiev said. "This is a key moment to work out the options for delivery and distribution of aid. The final route is not known.”

In a phone call on Friday, Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the UN could help with coordination of the international humanitarian aid for Luhansk region to ensure the observance of international law.

There have been fears Russia could use the convoy as a pretext for military action in Ukraine.

“First they send tanks, Grad missiles and bandits who fire on Ukrainians and then they send water and salt,” Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said at a government meeting in Kiev on Wednesday.

Taras Berezovets, director of the Kiev-based Berta Communicaitons, a political consultancy, said the convoy was likely “some sort of military provocation” on the part of Russia.

“This convoy could be shelled and then Russia could accuse Ukraine’s army of doing this, or they could bring in some reinforcement and special forces in the trucks, or try to bring light arms in for rebels,” he told Mashable by phone from Kiev. “I think [Russia] is planning to have the terrorists bomb the convoy, blame Ukraine and then legalize their actions to invade Ukraine.”

Russia has massed at least 12,000 regular troops along the Ukrainian border and carried out military exercises with fighter jets and helicopters during the past week, according to NATO.

The Russian convoy en route to Ukraine “raises the risk of war,” Berezovets said. “It’s now higher than ever before.”

“If this was humanitarian aid, why would Russia insist that it isn’t unloaded and reloaded before moving to Luhansk?” he added.

“No matter what [the Russians] are bringing, even if it is humanitarian aid, it should only be accepted if it is thoroughly inspected and authorized… any unauthorized crossing into Ukraine would be a military intervention.”

None of the convoy staff we talked to said they knew which Rus/Ukr border they were heading to and what the plan was from there — Courtney Weaver (@courtneymoscow) August 13, 2014

For Kiev’s part, Yatsenyuk said the government is able to feed its own people without the help of Russia, adding that the government had set aside another 10 million hryvna, about $760,000, for its aid shipment.

Svyatoslav Tsegolko, a spokesperson for Poroshenko, said that a humanitarian convoy organized by the government was already en route to Luhansk Friday afternoon.

“Ukraine can’t leave citizens [without help] who have become hostages of terrorists in occupied territories,” he said. He did not clarify how many trucks were involved in the Kiev-organized convoy.

Amid the rising tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in March, triggering the most serious crisis with the West since the Cold War.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at Belbek airport outside Sevastopol in Crimea, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. Image: RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service/Associated Press

On Wednesday the Russian leader met with senior security officials. He is set to meet with his entire Cabinet and Russian lawmakers on Thursday. Afterward he is expected to release a statement about the situation in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, fighting in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk raged on. Eleven soldiers were killed and 41 injured over the past 24 hours, according to Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. The video below shows rocket fire heard just as the sun set in Donetsk.

The United Nations reported Wednesday that the overall death toll in Ukraine climbed to at least 2,086. The figure includes Ukrainian soldiers, Russian-backed rebels and civilians killed since the onslaught of the conflict in mid-April.