UPDATE - Turkiye to send humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine

UPDATES WITH PLANNED AID FROM AFAD; REVISES HEAD, DECK, LEDE, THROUGHOUT

By Ali Kemal Akan and Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Red Crescent and state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced on Friday that they would send a humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine.

The convoy will "address urgent basic needs, coordinating with Red Cross Ukraine," Kerem Kinik, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, said on Twitter.

"Our teams are being deployed to the region with warehousing tents, family-type tents and mobile catering vehicles," said Kinik, adding that these materials would be given to evacuees and internally displaced people.

For its part, AFAD stated that five trucks of humanitarian aid, including food, blankets, bedding, hygiene materials and tents, would be sent to Ukraine with a humanitarian team.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Ukraine's regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states earlier this week, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US, and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed that Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations that were consistently rejected by Moscow.

Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine entered its second day on Friday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital Kyiv from several directions.

Putin had ordered the military intervention on Thursday, just days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy the neighboring country, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to install a puppet government and said Ukrainians will defend their country against Russian aggression.