Southeastern Ukraine leader accuses West of ignoring humanitarian disaster
MOSCOW/KYIV. July 30 (Interfax) - Oleh Tsaryov, the speaker of the parliament of the union of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, known also as the 'Union of the People's Republics of Novorussia', has urged Europe to pay attention to the humanitarian disaster in southeastern Ukraine.
"It is strange why the entire world pays no attention to this, after all, Novorussia is in the center of Europe. Nobody but Russians are providing us with humanitarian aid. I want to appeal to the European people: we have a humanitarian disaster, this is obvious. It is also obvious that Ukraine is one step away from a humanitarian disaster. We are thankful to Russia and we don't understand the West's inaction," Tsaryov said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
There are no foodstuffs in stores, there are no medicines in hospitals, there is no power and water supply, and people are dying, Tsaryov said. As many as 156 power substations, 18 heating plants, 1,050 private homes, 41 bridges, 258 apartment blocks, a number of overhead roads, and trunk gas pipelines have been destroyed, he said.
"There have been disruptions in power and water supply in cities. I want to say that, in analogous situations at places where war is on, the entire world provides humanitarian aid. The entire world seems to have forgotten that there is war here and that a significant number of people have found themselves in a humanitarian disaster. This is hard to understand," Tsaryov said.
"We are really thankful to Russia for its aid - we've been receiving tens and hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian cargos and moral support from ordinary Russians, and we thank them for this," he said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have reported that the humanitarian situation on the territories earlier occupied by the militia and later retaken under Kyiv's control is gradually improving.
In particular, head of the Ukrainian State Emergency Situations Service Serhiy Bochkovsky said on Wednesday that "life in Slovyansk [the Donetsk region] is gradually being brought back to normal. Energy supplies in all the 14 districts have been restored."
Nearly 98% of consumers have been hooked up to the power grid, and 201 out of the 227 elevators in Slovyansk homes have been repaired, Bochkovsky said. "The baking plant is functioning normally," he said.
Eleven kindergartens have been reopened, which 727 children are visiting. Six ambulance crews have also started working, he said.
The Ukrainian post service and bank outlets in Slovyansk have started paying pensions, including debts, Bochkovsky said. Thirty routes of public transport have been reopened in the city and 15 in the suburb areas, he said.
State Emergency Situations Service workers have cleared 70 kilometers of streets and roads and 78 house ruins, he said.