LUGANSK, August 25. /TASS/. The most serious destruction in the Lugansk People's Republic during the liberation of its territory from Kiev’s forces occurred in the most urbanized settlements - Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Rubizhnoye and Popasnaya, the LPR’s Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Svetlana Malakhova, told TASS in an interview.
"Facilities in the Severodonetsk agglomerate (Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Rubizhnoye, Kremennaya and Popasnaya districts) were the hardest-hit. All these communities were highly urbanized and had a well-developed industrial zone. The Ukrainian army used the local population as a cover to occupy apartment buildings and place military equipment in the yards high-rise buildings, which could not but lead to significant destruction of both apartment buildings and private households," she said, noting that it is "still unsafe to be in Popasnaya even today."
Malakhova said the social infrastructure of 10 out of 15 the territories, which are agricultural regions and had been liberated since February 2022, sustained minor damage. "Bridges, railways and crossings, as well as energy infrastructure, were damaged to a greater extent. This complicates the territories’ industrial and economic development and the restoration of social facilities," she explained.
Earlier, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that a development plan would be drawn up for Popasnaya, Lisichansk, Rubezhnoye and Severodonetsk based on the one being implemented in Mariupol. Later, the LPR’s leader, Leonid Pasechnik, said that the authorities were skeptical about restoring Popasnaya, where about 96% of buildings and facilities were damaged. Khusnullin said last week that the question of whether Popasnaya should be rebuilt would be settled within the next few weeks.