RIA Novosti: No Fuel, Almost No Medicine in Luhansk – Local Authorities

MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) -The eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk has run out of fuel and is running out of medicine after being isolated from the outside world for 13 days, the Luhansk City Council said Friday.

“There is a pressing issue of a lack of fuel supplies in the city, all the reserves have been emptied,” according to a statement on the City Council’s official website, which described the current situation in the city as “critical.”

According to the statement, Luhansk is experiencing a shortage of medicine as there are no current supplies and only a few drugstores continue to operate. Today is the 13th day Luhansk has gone without electricity. Only the most necessary products remain on shelves, including the bread, which is being baked using electric generators.

According to locals, almost half of the Luhansk population has fled the city, which is currently on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the conflict between Donbas independence supporters and Kiev forces. However, on Wednesday the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture Ihor Shvaika said that there are no grounds for talking about a humanitarian catastrophe in the region, as the Ukrainian military in Luhansk is supplied with food.