© Sputnik/ Sergei Pivovarov

"In the period between August 2014 and now, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, jointly with interested Russian federal and regional executive authorities, charities and other organizations delivered humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Luhansk republics," Voronov told the Federation Council Committee of public support for people in southeastern Ukraine on Feb. 25."In all, to date, we have sent 49 columns of vehicles which delivered over 59,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid," he said.This included food and medications, in particular, he said."This year, one column was delivered that included food supplies, firefighting equipment, fire hoses, emergency rescue tools, equipment and so on," the deputy minister said.The ministry has also organized joint work with the Russian health ministry and Fair Aid, an international public organization, to evacuate seriously ill Ukrainians to Russian hospitals.