LUHANSK, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Luhansk remains without water and electricity as the Ukrainian army continues to shell the east Ukrainian city, the local administration said on Thursday.
An administrative building of the Luhansk casting and mechanical plant has burned down, and residential buildings have been damaged in the city over the past twenty-four hours, the mayor’s office said.
The Ukrainian army’s mortar shells have set several facilities on fire, including the city’s central marketplace and the building of the regional children’s hospital, and have damaged buildings in the center of Luhansk and other districts of the city.
Luhansk residents have been staying without water and electricity for over two weeks, and mobile and fixed-line communications are not operating. Power supply cannot be restored due to incessant fighting in the city, the mayor’s office said.
The absence of water remains an acute problem in the city. Bread and staple foods are still available but new supplies of food, medicines and fuel have been stopped, the mayor’s office said.
Pensions, wages and social allowances have not been paid for several months in the city.
Russia sent a convoy of some 270 trucks with relief supplies for residents of war-torn eastern Ukraine on August 12. The cargo contains some 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including food (grain, sugar, baby food), medicines, sleeping bags and portable power generators.
The trucks are still at the border with Ukraine as Kiev, Moscow and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are trying to reach an agreement on specific terms of the convoy’s route in Ukraine.