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HQ for aid to liberated territories to be set up in Artyomovsk — DPR leader

Denis Pushilin noted that after thorough mine clearance operations, specialists would be able to begin assessing the condition of all city buildings

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. An interagency center on providing aid to liberated territories will be set up in Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) in the near future, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Acting Head Denis Pushilin said on Monday.

"It is planned to set up a headquarters there following the tested and established practice in other liberated cities. The headquarters that will begin to function in the near future. This will be an interagency center on providing aid to liberated territories," he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

According to Pushilin, the headquarters will operate comprehensively. He noted that after thorough mine clearance operations, specialists would be able to begin assessing the condition of all city buildings. "Then, it will be possible to begin work to the full extent and break it into stages but we will plan works on restoring this populated center in direct connection with the federal center," he noted.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on May 21 that the operation to liberate Artyomovsk had been completed as a result of an offensive carried out by assault units from the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), backed up by artillery units and aircraft from Battlegroup South. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagner fighters and Russian service members on the liberation of the Donbass city. The Kremlin press service said that all those who distinguished themselves in the fight for Artyomovsk would be nominated for state decorations and awards.

Artyomovsk, located in the northern part of the DPR, had served as a key logistics hub for supplying the Ukrainian military in the Donbass and was a major Ukrainian outpost. The battle for the city, which began on August 1, 2022, has proven to be one of the biggest battles during the liberation of the Donbass since 2014. Before the fighting began, the city had a population of 72,000 inhabitants.