Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow wants to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine.

“Yesterday we sent an official note to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry informing them of our intention to prepare a new humanitarian convoy,” Lavrov told a news conference.

Moscow faced sharp criticism from Kyiv and the West for sending some 20,000 tonnes of emergency supplies to Luhansk last week without official permission.

Talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU are set to take place in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday (26 August).

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko for the first time since a frosty encounter at D-Day commemoration in France in June.