MOSCOW, Feb 3 - The Kremlin said on Wednesday Russia would supply the rebel-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine with its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 despite Kyiv’s ban on using the Russian shots, Reuters reported.

Ukraine expects to receive shipments of Western-made vaccines soon and has prohibited the use of Russian vaccines against COVID-19, with its relations with Moscow essentially severed by the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The comments by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov about Ukraine’s rebel-held regions come after a local news outlet in self-proclaimed Donetsk republic reported on Sunday that Russia had begun shipments of its vaccine there.