Today, 27 December, in the capital of the DPR, at the initiative of the Public Movement Free Donbass, a round table was held on the topic: “Analysis of the implementation of the program “Assistance in the work of the Public Commission on the Assessment of Economic Damage Caused by Ukraine”. Representatives of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman in the DPR, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPR, deputies of the DPR People’s Council, and representatives of the public were invited to take part.
During the meeting, data of the damages as a result of military actions by Ukraine to the Republic were announced. According to preliminary estimates, the amount of economic damage exceeds 420 billion rubbles. However, this figure is non-exhaustive, due to the inability to inspect many damaged and destroyed locations. At the same time, the results of the work of the Public Commission indicate that the Ukrainian side deliberately seeks to disable civil objects and key elements of the socio-economic infrastructure.
In turn, Roman Savchenko, Deputy Manager of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office in the DPR, who took part in the round table, focused on the consequences of the Ukrainian aggression, which cannot be assessed or measured in monetary terms. However, they are the key evidence of the genocide of the region’s population.
He noted that, according to official data, 5,037 people, including 91 children, have died since the beginning of the conflict on the territory of the DPR. About 8000 residents of the Republic sustained injuries of varying severity. Over 1600 people became disabled.
“In 2021, as a result of hostilities in the Republic, 76 people died, which is 46% more than in the previous 2020. The number of wounded people increased by 21% and now it is 128 people. In 2021, a child died for the first time since 2018” said Roman Savchenko.
At the same time, he stressed that the actual number of victims of the Ukrainian aggression in Donbass is much higher than the above official data. This is due to the active phase of hostilities in 2014-2015, when it was not possible to document the facts of deaths.
Today, work to establish accurate data on the number of victims of Ukrainian aggression in Donbass is being carried out within the framework of the activities of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Search for Missing Persons and Burial Places of the Deceased in the Areas of the Armed Conflict, which is headed by the DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova. Within the period between 18 August and 19 November 2021, during work in the cities of Snezhnoye, Debaltsevo and Khartsyzsk, the remains of 51 people were recovered from unmarked graves. Today, 320 people are considered to be disappeared in connection with the conflict in the DPR.
Roman Savchenko noted that a significant number of missing persons and mass burial sites were recorded on the territory temporarily controlled by the state of Ukraine. And the DPR insists on the need to establish the fate of people on both sides of the contact line. However, representatives of Kiev refuse to conduct a joint search work. Since 2015, within the framework of the Minsk platform, the Ukrainian side has been blocking all humanitarian initiatives of the DPR in this direction.
“Ukraine not only mocks the memory of those who died in Donbass, but also deliberately prolongs the suffering of living people. For two years now, the issue of the simultaneous release of the detainees has been completely blocked through the fault of Kiev. Contrary to the Minsk agreements and the armistice agreements, the situation in the region is not improving. On the contrary, the actions of Ukraine are becoming more and more hostile and unpredictable” summed up Roman Savchenko.
The participants of the round table noted the need to unite efforts of departments, organizations and the public in order to record the facts of war crimes of Ukraine in Donbass, to assess the damage caused by Kiev’s armed aggression. In the future, these materials will make it possible to bring the perpetrators to justice and restore the rights of the inhabitants of the region. In 2022, work will be intensified in all directions.
