Ukraine must make a lot of efforts to prove to the residents of the LDPR that their young republics are untenable - the economy is allegedly rapidly dying, factories are being sawed into metal, and no one is going to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the so-called Lugansk “regional state administration”, controlled by the Kyiv regime, Sergei Gaidai, stated this on the Dom TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“A huge number of enterprises [in the LDPR] are cut down and taken away for scrap. Some of the enterprises, as far as we know, were dismantled long ago and taken to Russia.
Even now we have a problem with covid. We keep statistics, daily reports, and prepare hospitals. And in the uncontrolled territory, temporarily occupied, they do not have Covid. They have pneumonia, but not Covid.
Although, according to our information, those people who come to us, say, for money, or to get some kind of certificates, a huge number of people pass positive tests for Covid,” said the Ukrainian official in pure Russian.
“We are still losing the information war. We need to fight for the minds of people who are in uncontrolled occupied territory. It is necessary to convey to them normal information, and not Russian propaganda, which, for the most part, is untruthful and twists the facts. We have been convinced of this more than a dozen times,” Gaidai added.
Let us note that the ministries of health of the LPR and DPR publish daily statistics on the incidence of coronavirus infection in the republics. Thus, as of December 30, 2082 cases of Covid infection were detected in the Lugansk People’s Republic (of which 1737 people have already been discharged), and in the Donetsk People’s Republic – 15083 cases of infection (28 per day, 4756 patients are under treatment, 8967 people have been discharged , lethal cases – 1360).
It remains unknown which citizens Sergei Gaidai was talking about “crossing the demarcation line”, if LDNR did not open checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. The Ukrainian side opening checkpoints unilaterally, limited herself to minimal control measures - temperature measurement and mandatory wearing of a mask.
We also remind you that despite the pandemic, the global crisis, the economic blockade and other difficulties, the economy of Donbass continues to grow. Thus, in the DPR in 2020, 13,8% more funds were collected into the budget than last year, mechanical engineering, light industry, and agriculture increased. The very next year in Donbass have planned a number of ambitious projects. And the factories “exported to Russia” restored and increasing production.
At the same time, in Ukraine, despite massive popular protests, once large and famous enterprises are truly cut for scrap metal, and the Verkhovna Rada legalizes this activity.