ST. PETERSBURG, June 14. /TASS/. The humanitarian situation in the liberated areas of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), including the city of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine), remains difficult, the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, told journalists on Wednesday.

"The humanitarian situation in the liberated territories is always difficult, because the enemy does not consider them their territories, [does not see] the people who live there as fellow countrymen," Pushilin said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"Of course, [the enemy] tried to inflict as much damage there as possible. This applies to various population centers of different sizes, whether it's the small village of Granitnoye, the city of Mariupol, or now Artyomovsk. We will have to rebuild from scratch," he said.

According to Pushilin, the most important asset is the people. "People on the ground want to live, to develop, they want to improve their standard of living after our victory, [after] the special military operation. We will focus our attention on this," Pushilin stressed.

Artyomovsk is located in the northern part of the DPR. It had been an important transport and logistics hub for supplying Ukrainian troops in the Donbass and served as a fortified defensive line for the Ukrainian forces. The fight for control over the city began on August 1, 2022, and ended on May 20, 2023, marking one of the largest-scale battles to date in the course of Russia’s special military operation.