12 Feb, 11:49

Ukrainian diplomat admits Kiev’s obstruction of humanitarian aid to DPR, LPR

According to Vadim Chernysh, Kiev never even reviewed appeals from the DPR and LPR humanitarian affairs envoys, even though international diplomats from the UN insisted on it, "because people are starving there"

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities were obstructing the shipment of humanitarian aid to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), disregarding their appeals, former Ukrainian Minister "for the Affairs of Temporarily Occupied Territories" Vadim Chernysh, a member of the trilateral contact group in Minsk on the peace settlement in the DPR and the LPR in 2016-2019, said.

"I have heard from international experts, UN representatives the very same talking points the Russians use, ‘for how long will you inflict hunger and thirst on the people of the DPR and the LPR?’" he said in an interview with the Ukrainskaya Pravda news outlet.

Chernysh, who was at the time the head of the Ukrainian delegation within the economic and humanitarian working group aimed at assisting the residents of Donbass, said that the issues of shipping food and water supply were virtually blocked by the Ukrainian authorities. He noted that international representatives offered to gather $800 million and transfer the money to the DPR and LPR administrations, so that they can restore water supply in the regions. "And you have to block this initiative, simultaneously finding mechanisms to maintain water supply," the diplomat said.

According to the former minister, Kiev never even reviewed appeals from the DPR and LPR humanitarian affairs envoys, even though international diplomats from the UN insisted on it, "because people are starving there."

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