Luhansk is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe, people are also fleeing Donetsk
According to local town hall estimates, a fifth of the roughly one million inhabitants have already left East Ukraine’s Donetsk due to fighting. People are also fleeing Luhansk, the city is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. The Ukrainian army continues to advance on the center of Donetsk. Due to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Russia has called for an extraordinary UN Security Council meeting.
Donetsk International Airport is closed, but public transport is partially operational. According to witnesses, the streets of Donetsk are deserted and shops are closed. Entire blocks of apartment buildings are depopulated.
According to army spokesman Oleksiya Dmytraskovsky, the army’s goal is to occupy Marjinka as a starting point for further progress. According to him, the liberation of the Jasynuvata district, where the railway junction is important, is strategically important. The insurgents thus lost important connections, which proudly reinforced and weapons to the city. According to residents of the district, however, the insurgents still hold their positions there.
According to Western news agencies, strong explosions and machine-gun rifles are coming from Marjinka. On the night, according to the AFP agency, the army shelled the city center with grenade launchers and eliminated eight separatists. Marjinka is without power, shrapnel damaged the local transformer station.
Improvised shelter on the outskirts of Donetsk
According to army spokesman Andriy Lysenko, the goal is not to start a big battle in Donetsk. Rather, the army is trying to cut off the insurgents from supplies and reinforcements, which applies not only to the large cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, but also to the border areas.
Luhansk has been without water and electricity for a week
won half a million Luhansk has already left half the population. Electricity is not flowing in the city, the supply is not working, there is no public transport, the telephone network has failed and the internet connection has been interrupted.
Due to the deplorable state of municipal services, paralyzed shelling and lack of fuel, garbage is not exported from the city. Due to the high summer temperatures, the city smells and there is a risk of an epidemic.
The residential areas of Luhanská have been without water and without electricity for about a week. Telephone and internet connection does not work not only in the city center, but also in its wider surroundings. The local waterworks stopped treating water as a result of combat operations, and drinking water supplies stopped. The virtually continuous shelling of the city caused damage to the city’s property to such an extent that the provision of life functions in Luhansk stopped, writes the Cenzor server.
1/2 z #Luhansk the citizens have already left the city http://t.co/4HFSUVDH9y pic.twitter.com/r0HPB4E0Se | EMPR #Ukraine #refuges #Russia #AND IT
– Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) August 5, 2014
The Ukrainian government has issued a statement calling on the civilian population to evacuate the insurgent-controlled area. “Civilians should leave the terrorist-controlled area,” Army spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Monday.
However, according to Ukrainian journalists, many Ukrainians do not have enough money to effectively evacuate in crowded and often overpriced trains and buses. In Luhansk and other cities, socially weak Ukrainians, pensioners and families with children remain.
| Nearly three-quarters of a million Ukrainians have fled to Russia |
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| Around 730,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Russia this year due to combat operations in eastern Ukraine. This was announced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. More than a quarter of them are seeking asylum in Russia. |
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