Interfax: War did massive damage to Donetsk – city mayor

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KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax) – Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko says the military action has done “massive” damage to the city.

“It’s in the billions [hryvni]. If we take the industrial sector, residential; buildings, social infrastructure, energy facilities, and railway, it will be a colossal amount of damage. It will take the city’s economy a lot of time to return to the pre-war level,” the city mayor said in an interview published in the Monday edition of the newspaper Segodnya.

Over 900 buildings in Donetsk have now been damaged or destroyed, including 35 schools, 17 kindergartens, and very many enterprises, especially mining, Lukyanchenko said. “We have lost the mining department Oktyabrskoye, the mine Mospinskaya, and a number of energy facilities – electrical power sub-stations – for good,” he said.

As to the people who have left Donetsk due to the recent events, Lukyanchenko said: “Judging by daily bread consumption, some 700,000 residents now remain in the city. The rest have left for nearby cities where there is no fighting and other populated areas in Ukraine.”

At the same time, some people are returning, he said. “At least 30,000 Donetsk residents have recently returned. On one hand, this is due to money issues, and on the other hand, cold weather is coming, it’s already cold on the coast of the Sea of Azov and in forest recreation facilities, so people have to return,” he said.

The mayor of Donetsk has been in Kyiv since mid July due to threats and ultimatums given by representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic. He said he holds weekly meetings by Skype and makes decisions on life in Donetsk.

The mayor said he is hoping Donetsk residents who did not get their pensions and social benefits in August will begin getting them in the next few days.

“The issue of pensions is very difficult now. Banks are not working in stable manner in the city, except for one bank Oshchadbank. Money was paid into our pensions’ bank cards on time in July and August. However, 216 million hryvni were not paid to people who get their pensions in post offices because they are not working in the city,” he said.

Lukyanchenko said he is hoping that “the payment of pensions will begin next Monday.”

As to the situation with social benefits, Lukyanchenko said there is a debt in an amount of some 60 million hryvni. “But I hope 15 million will be paid in the Kyiv district, Leninksy and Budyonovsky districts today. I think we can pay most of the benefits by September 10,” he said.

 

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