MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Russian philanthropist Elizaveta Glinka, who is widely known as Dr. Liza, has helped to send 189 citizens of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), mostly children, for treatment to Russia since the start of this year.

"We provide aid to both the wounded and the sick. In particular, we help them to come for treatment to Russia. These people have diseases that cannot be cured in the DPR territory for some reasons," Glinka told the Donetsk news agency.

Glinka, who heads the Spravedlivaya Pomoshch (Fair Aid) charity fund and is a member of the Russian presidential council for human rights, stressed that the aid from Russia for hospitals in the DPR is of crucial importance.

"I have been traveling to Donbas for the past 1.5 years and I can say that medical facilities in the DPR survive only due to the humanitarian aid from Russia and private organizations," she said.

The aid being provided to the DPR hospitals includes an urgent evacuation of children who need treatment in Russia and the delivery of medicines demanded by these facilities, Glinka added.

Under the presidential decree issued in mid-November 2014, Ukraine’s government suspended payments of all social benefits, including pensions, in "certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," starting from December 1.