Refugees going home as bombardments subside - DPR
MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - The truce in Donbas allows refugees to return to the homes they fled amid bombardments and the administration of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to organize activity of local bodies of power, DPR People's Council Chairman Andrei Purgin said.
"Things are more or less settling down, people are coming back to their home towns, and the activity of local authorities is being organized although it still leaves much to be desired," Purgin told the Donetsk news agency.
He said though that the truce had vague prospects of success because of the tightening economic siege and the absence of guarantees of the full pullback of Ukrainian heavy arms.
It is a primary objective of the DPR administration to prevent deterioration of the humanitarian conditions, Purgin added.
"Ukraine has made our life extremely complicated by laying siege. So, our primary task is to stop deterioration of the humanitarian situation, to distribute the incoming aid, and to arrange social support services," he said.
The DPR administration has launched a chain of canteens feeding people for free and the delivery of food and money to bedridden patients and other disadvantaged groups of citizens, he said.
"In fact, we have achieved certain results and have developed a certain system, a scheme. We are now trying to adjust the payment of salaries to public sector employees," Purgin said.