DONETSK, August 5./ITAR-TASS/. The government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic has established a state commission on humanitarian affairs, as the region is faced with a humanitarian catastrophe.

The commission must set up a state reserve, the republic's press centre said. "All the humanitarian aid received by the republic will be included in the reserve. The commission will register, control, store up and distribute the supplies," it said.

The commission is headed by Alexander Karaman, the republic's deputy cabinet chairman in charge of social affairs.

On July 30, representatives of the People's Front of Novorossia said the Donetsk and Lugansk republics were faced with a humanitarian catastrophe.

The front's co-chairman Oleg Tsaryov said the Ukrainian army's strikes on the Donetsk region had destroyed 156 electric stations, 18 boiler rooms, 41 bridges, 258 apartment buildings, about 1,050 private houses, many roads and gas pipelines. Many residential districts were left without electricity and water supply.

In such situations in Africa and the Middle East, the entire world provides humanitarian aid, Tsaryov said, adding "Nobody, but Russia, provides aid for us".

About 50,000 people were left without electricity in the city of Luhansk, 5,000 without water and 4,000 without gas, the chairman of the front's executive committee, Alexander Zinchenko, said. The Luhansk republic's Prime Minister Marat Bashirov confirmed the information.