Restoring Donbas: Main events of 17-23rd august

11:07 / 23 Aug. 2015 / 629

Japanese Government allocated 2 million dollars for the reconstruction of Luhansk region. Water in Alchevsk is not applicable for drinking. Poland can join the negotiations concerning Donbas. We have collected the most interesting and important news during the past week in one review for you.

The situation on Donbas territory under Ukrainian control

Local hostilities in Donbas still make harm to important objects of infrastructure in the region. Thus, as a result of the shelling, electricity supply of pumping station of the third lifting channel Seversky Donets – Donbas was damaged. It has led to termination of Donetsk, Velikoanadolskiy and Krasnoarmeiskiy filtering stations. However, after a few days repairers and energy supply engineers managed to restore the electricity supply of pumping station.

Energetic situation in the region is complicated (in particular, on Slovyansk TPP). The station still does not have enough patrol and proceed working “on wheels” – coming soon coal used for generating power unit №7. Meanwhile, in Luhansk region, it is planned to build a new power transmission line (PTL) to improve reliability of power in the northern part of the region.

Humanitarian situation in the region is also complicated. In particular, it comes about the lack of medicines in hospitals. According to volunteers, there is the lack of drugs for the treatment of civilians in Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov.

In general, the region’s problems are multi-faceted and complex. They can not find systemic solutions. In particular, State Agency for the Reconstruction of Donbas is delaying its launch.

Elena Pertyaeva – the head of community initiative «Restoring Donbas» – expressed her opinion in an open letter to Vadim Chernysh – the head of the State Agency: the agency should involve public into its activities in order to start effective work in the nearest future.

On Donbas territory beyond the Ukrainian control

Meanwhile, there is also humanitarian complexity on the territories controlled by the rebels. In particular, it became known that tap water and well-water as well as water in reservoirs of Alchevsk are not applicable for drinking. These data were provided by local Sanitary Epidemiological Stations after investigation of the taken samples.

There is an increasing economic gap between the two parts of the region. Last week, the so-called “Council of Ministers of LNR” issued a “decree”. According to it, the Russian ruble will be the main currency on the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine (Luhansk region) from September 1. Such decision was made “in order to stabilize the financial and monetary system.”

IDPs from Donbas

Last week, press service of the State Service for Emergency Situations of Ukraine claimed that 927 thousand 818 people have moved from ATO area to other regions. Meanwhile, 20,500 residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions has already entered higher education institutions of Ukraine. 5 thousand 89 students from Luhansk and 10 thousand 615 students from Donetsk region will study at the expense of the state budget

In Donetsk region, Pavel Zhebrivskyi – the head of the military State Administration – stated that administration together with the United Nations is developing a program on work with IDPs. The program will include assistance on rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and improvement of social services and job creation.

Public also continues to work on resolving the problems of IDPs. Last week, the Center of complex advisory help to IDPs in Kiev, which was created by community initiative «Restoring Donbas», helped to find relatives, who have lost each other due to the hostilities in Donbas. At the same time, managers of the Center noted that «Restoring Donbas» will proceed to deal with such requests without limiting the geography of the searching. Community initiative signed a cooperation agreement with Irpen city employment center in the context of the resolving issues of employment.

International situation

Last week, United Nations announced the number of deaths during all the hostilities in Donbas. According to the organization, 6800 people were killed, 17,087 people were injured, another 1.3 million were forced to leave their homes. At the same time, Ban Ki-moon – Secretary-General of the United Nations – called on all parties of Donbas conflict to take urgent steps in order to de-escalate the situation and to prevent violence.

Directly on the spot of events, OSCE Mission is continuing its work. It regularly prepares its reports. At the same time, the heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the framework of the OSCE and expressed their intention to mutually seek solutions to the Ukrainian crisis.

Individual states are also involved in Ukrainian problems. In particular, on August 24 in Berlin, there will be hold a meeting of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In addition, this week it became known that Poland can join Minsk negotiations on Donbas.

Germany provides practical help in resolving the problems of Ukrainian IDPs. It takes IDP’s children from ATO area on the rehabilitation. Children from almost all the cities of ATO zone (Torez, Zugres, Stakhanov, Luhansk) were gathered in special camp together. After 2 weeks of outdoor activities all boys and girls will return to Ukraine, and there will be a new group of children of internally displaced persons.

Government of Japan has provided significant practical assistance to the region. It has allocated almost 2 million dollars for the restoring of Luhansk region. Funds were spent on medical institutions.

The restoring-donbass.com website - is an interactive platform, which was created by the "Restoring Donbas" community initiative of Oleksandr Klymenko. The latest news, blogs and analysis, background information and useful ads for IDPs and Donbas residents are available on the website.