DONETSK, August 05. /ITAR-TASS/. The speaker of the parliament of Novorossia (an unrecognized confederation of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions) has asked the US president on his Facebook page to put pressure on the Kiev government to end “genocide against the population”.

“We call on you to put pressure on the Ukrainian leadership so that they end terror and killings in Donbass, pull their troops out of the territory of independent republics,” Oleg Tsaryov said.

Tsaryov said more than 1,129 civilians, including 348 women and 76 children, have been killed since a military operation started in mid-April.

City infrastructure has been destroyed, and many cities have been left without electricity and gas supply, he said. “What is going on in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics can be described only as genocide against the population. Hundreds of thousands have been left without shelter. More than half-a-million people had to flee their homes,” the speaker of the confederation of two self-proclaimed republics said.

Tass reported earlier, that on August 1 a group of 19 American Republican senators demanded from President Barack Obama to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk republics as terrorist organisations, blacklisting them.