DONETSK, March 8. /TASS/. The Donetsk water filtration plant has resumed operation after its territory had been demined, a spokesperson of the Water of Donbass communal company said on Wednesday.
"We have launched the filtration plant and the personnel are at the workplaces," he told the Donetsk news agency, adding that the plant would be operating smoothly if the ceasefire held on the area.
Earlier in the day, field engineers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) had removed from the area the explosive devices fired by Ukrainian military on March 5.
On March 4, the territory of the plant had been cleared of mines. Nevertheless, the next day it was cut off electricity and the personnel were evacuated amid Ukrainian military’s shelling. Unexploded shells and mines were supposed to have landed on its territory.
The plant is located between Avdeyevka and Yasinovataya and supplies water to settlements on both sides of the contact line: Donetsk, Yasinovataya, Vassilyevka and Spartak under the control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as well as Avdeyevka, Krasnogorovka and Verkhnetoretskoye, controlled by Kiev troops. The plant has been repeatedly shelled during the conflict.
Overnight to February 24, Ukrainian troops heavily pounded the plant, which was hit eight times. The plant was stopped and the personnel evacuated. The DPR operational command said heavy weaponry had been used. The fire came from the positions of Kiev troops from the area of Avdeyevka.
On March 1, Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine, said after a Contact Group meeting in Minsk that the sides had agreed not to advance attacks in the area of the plant, demine roads near it and give safety guarantees to Special Monitoring Mission and OSCE representatives.