KIEV, August 24 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s eastern city of Luhansk, besieged by the Ukrainian army, has had no power, running water or phone connections for 22 days, the city authorities said Sunday.
“Shelling of the city continues; residential buildings and infrastructure are being destroyed by shells on daily basis. The problem of water shortage is particularly acute. Luhansk hasn’t been receiving food, medicine or fuel supplies for a long time. Salaries, pension and social benefits are not being paid,” the authorities said in a statement.
On Friday, Luhansk received humanitarian aid from Russia. The convoy comprising of 227 trucks with about 2,000 tons of essentials including baby food, medicine, grain, sugar, sleeping bags and generators, arrived at the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 14 but entered Ukraine a week later, as Kiev had been postponing its final approval for the trucks to go ahead. All vehicles returned empty to Russia on Saturday. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed the return of all trucks.
Over 2,000 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured since the start of Kiev’s military operation against independence supporters in eastern Ukraine in mid-April, according to the United Nations.
