At the Minsk meeting, once again Daria Morozova raised the issue of the unimpeded access of specialists of the Republic to ecologically dangerous facilities for inspection. “Commission for inspection of ecologically dangerous facilities has already been established. It includes the Ministry of Coal and Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction and Housing, the State Committee for Mining and Engineering, the State Committee for Environmental Policy and Natural Resources, the Municipal enterprise “Voda Donbassa”, the Donetsk National Technical University, Trade Union Federation of the DPR, public organizations. We insist on the inspection of all facilities in the immediate neighbourhood of the combat zone. For example, the Donetsk Filtering Station, situated in the grey area, regularly comes under the fire of Ukrainian forces, which is confirmed by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. The shelling of this facility may cause the release of chlorine, and to the cuts of water supply leaving more than one million people without water on both sides of the conflict. Another object of environmental concern situated near the delimitation line is the Avdeyevka Coke Plant that stores thousands of tons of toxic substances. The situation is aggravated by the fact that State Municipal Technical Inspectorate of Ukraine was closed down in 2015. Consequently, there is much less control over compliance with safety regulations now. In the event of an accident, there is a threat of release of hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide and other toxic substances into the atmosphere.
“Considering the above, once again we insist on the inspection of this facility in order to avoid an ecological catastrophe that would inevitably affect both the territory of the Republic and the one controlled by Ukraine “, –said the Human Rights Ombudsman Daria Morozova.
