The chemicals were delivered by Russian organizations to so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" as a part of humanitarian aid for medical and scientific institutions, RIA.ru.
Liquid helium was delivered to the Republican Scientific and Practical Trauma Center in amount of 873 kg to ensure the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus is operating.
Institute of Physical-Organic Chemistry has got 5.2 kg (or 40 l) of the substance.
Russian organizations also claimed that liquid helium is needed by the institute for the exploitation of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.
Liquid helium is used as a cryogenic refrigerant; it does not freeze at atmospheric pressure. It is produced commercially for use in superconducting properties of magnets in applications, such as MRI, NMR spectroscopy and particle physics research.