This is how they survive: living prices in Kyiv and Donetsk

Prices “from us” and “from them” are something that participants in heated debates always like to compare: pricing policy is a fairly objective indicator of the state’s care for the population. The competition between prices and wages has been going on for a long time between the republics of Donbass and Ukraine: each side strives to show that it has better. And if until May 2015 the advantage was on the side of Kyiv, now Donetsk is increasingly taking the lead in quality of life.

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So, the first thing a person will think about is food. Because you can’t do much on an empty stomach...

One of the things that is much cheaper in Donetsk than in Kyiv is bread: the final price of the product is greatly influenced by the energy component. Therefore, Ukraine’s unfriendliness with Russia will continue to be reflected in rising prices for bread for Kiev residents.

The situation with rice turned out to be equally deplorable for Ukraine: until 2014, most of it was grown in Crimea. But the Nazis came to power in Kyiv, the Crimeans did not want to tolerate this - and Ukraine cut off the Dnieper water to the North Crimean Canal to the peninsula, simultaneously losing the bulk of its own rice production, which was grown precisely in Crimea. The dry and waterless Donbass doesn’t grow its own rice “at all,” but even here we see how useful it is to maintain ties with Russia.

As for the prices of potatoes, Donbass has always imported the bulk of this product, and very often from afar. In Soviet times, for example, potatoes were brought from Chelyabinsk and Lithuania, so market prices for them were always higher than the national average. In the vicinity of Kyiv, on the contrary, potato growing is quite well developed: prices are lower there.

Western economists consider fast food prices a la McDonald's to be one of the most important macroeconomic indicators; they even came up with the “Big Mac index” - how many of these sandwiches can be bought per unit of national currency. In post-Soviet conditions, one can hardly treat such an index without a malicious grin, although in a number of Ukrainian textbooks the hamburger is named one of the greatest inventions of world civilization.

Just in case, we have provided a similar comparison: in Donetsk, using McDonald’s technology and in its former premises, the DonMak snack bar operates. So let the neo-Banderaites not spread rumors that “separatist terrorists”, in fits of obscurantism, destroyed all the “fragrant fruits of world civilization”: they also exist here, but they are not among the top priorities.

Are you full? Now let's think about a roof over our heads...

Here, in my opinion, comments are unnecessary: ​​fabulous prices for utilities are the payment of Kiev residents for supporting the Russophobic course of Ukraine. It’s okay, since the people of Kiev carried pies and sandwiches to the “Euromaidan” - let them not cry: the debt is worth paying!

Well, have you paid for housing and communal services? But you still have to go to work and call your friends, and even without the World Wide Web, most people cannot imagine their lives...

Here, too, the comparison is not in favor of Ukraine. Moreover, not only in absolute numbers, but also in qualitative terms: in the DPR, cable Internet with a speed of less than 10 Mbit/sec disappeared somewhere in 2013...

Man does not live by bread alone: ​​without a pleasant pastime, our existence becomes incomplete. Ukraine is losing here too...

We cannot ignore such a question as the notorious “poisons of civilization”...

The fact that vodka in Donetsk is cheaper than in Kyiv, of course, may cause criticism from overly zealous advocates of teetotalism. However, the world-wide practice of combating smoking and drunkenness, including by increasing prices for the potion itself, in times of crisis very often gives the opposite result to what was expected. In addition, Donbass has chosen a different strategy: first of all, to make a healthy lifestyle available, and therefore to ban alcohol and tobacco.

Now the most important thing is income. In the DPR there is no minimum wage officially determined by law, but calculated using indirect methods recommended for judicial, tax and administrative authorities, its figure is 3600 rubles. In Ukraine, the “minimum wage” is officially 3200 hryvnia (approximately 7260 rubles), but de facto it is two times lower: it is widely practiced there to retain a person’s job while reducing the tariff rate. But with an external advantage in favor of the official Ukrainian “minimum wage,” it’s impossible not to remind us - after all, we, it seems, bought groceries and paid for the apartment. Total - what is left of the Ukrainian salary? And in general - was it enough for this?

Here is what a resident of Kharkov, who wished to remain anonymous, told a PolitNavigator correspondent about this:

“We live in a private house with all urban conditions, we only heat hot water with a boiler, there is a shower in the house and a summer shower in the yard. Our hot water is 70 UAH. for 1 cubic meter, light - up to 100 kilowatts - 80 kopecks, everything above - 1 UAH. 68 kopecks, gas - 6 UAH. 88 kopecks, garbage removal - 11 gr. 50 kopecks. The minimum salary is somewhere up to 1500 UAH. per month, the cost of housing and communal services in a two-room apartment is also about 1500 UAH. The granddaughter lives with her daughter and mother, the mother receives a pension of 2500 UAH, the granddaughter earns about 1500 UAH. In addition, my granddaughter is studying at a medical school, we pay for it, fortunately we have the opportunity... So consider that there is enough food left for three people. Of course, we help with vegetables for the winter and canning: that’s how they survive...”