“By and by, the front line settlements of the Donbas are resuming a civilian life” -- Iryna Herashchenko
Within the XIII meeting of Ukraine’s diplomatic missions heads, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko together with Artur Herasimov, MP, the Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin, the Vice-Prime Minister-Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Hennadii Zubko and some eighty diplomats, as part of a delegation headed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, paid on August 26 a working visit to the Donbas.
During the visit, the delegates got acquainted with the security, humanitarian and ecological situation in the Donbas, had ample talks with residents of Avdiivka, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the Joint Forces Operation military command.
While in Avdiivka, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and members of the delegation took part in the ceremony of symbolic launching gas on a high-pressure pipeline from the town of Ocheretyne to the city of Avdiivka.
The President of Ukraine recalled the one-year-old events in January 2017, when the Russian occupation forces damaged, bombarding, a range of local critical infrastructure objects, leaving the locals free of electricity and gas. The head of the state also reminded that he had promised to re-connect gas to Avdiivka in 2018.
“Ukrainian gas has finally streamed off under operating pressure to Avdiivka, covering all the local gas networks together with seven settlements around. I congratulate Avdiivka on Ukrainian gas. Henceforth, the Russians will not drive us out and not put us on the knees with their grim snaring and gas blackmailing any more - just as we have won the Stockholm Arbitration and the Russians are to now pay Ukraine USD 4.6 billion; just as a few days ago, it was a thousand days for us to live without Russian gas. We are moving forward firmly and decisively, and we can clearly see the changes that are taking place," said the head of the state, addressing the residents of Avdiivka.
During his speech, Petro Poroshenko also appealed to all Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (regions).
"Believe me! The Ukrainian flag, the national emblem, the power of the Ukrainian state will definitely return. Return to every piece of the Ukrainian land," pointed out P. Poroshenko.
In his speech, the head of the state also announced the initiative to appeal to the EU countries to take responsibility for the reconstruction of specific settlements in the Donbas.
In the course of the visit, the delegates met with servicemen of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade and the Joint Forces Operation command.
The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces P. Poroshenko thanked the troops, representatives of foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine, representatives of the Government and members of the Parliament of Ukraine for their joint efforts aimed at restoring the Donbas and implementing the action plan of peace reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
During his speech, the President of Ukraine mentioned the name of the prominent American Senator John Sidney McCain III, who had recently died. The head of the state noticed that John S.McCain had devoted all his open life to protect Ukraine and Ukrainians. The attendants honoured the memory of the senator by a minute’s silence.
Meeting with the soldiers, the President inked an updated law of Ukraine providing greater and broader state guarantees alongside more social protection to the Joint Forces Operation participants.
In his speech, P. Poroshenko also emphasized the importance of organizing the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen abroad. According to him, 178 servicemen have already undergone rehabilitation in Latvia, 213 in Lithuania, 111 in Estonia, more than 100 in Israel, a hundred and odd in the United Arab Emirates, and in Bulgaria – twenty-four ones. Likewise, according to the President, dozens of Ukrainian soldiers went through the rehabilitation procedures in Portugal and the United States as well.
The head of the state also highlighted the need to provide the rehabilitation to Donbas children.
Within the framework of the visit, Petro Poroshenko visited a number of dwellings of Avdiivka residents to personally verify if there is gas supply in the settlements.
The delegation also visited the Avdiivka coke plant, which, despite heavy shelling by the Russian occupants, continues its work and is one of the largest metallurgy coke producers in Europe and Ukraine for the time being.
"Restoring gas supplies to the city of Avdiivka and seven other settlements in the Donetsk region is a result of productive cooperation between the local authorities, the Government representatives and the Minsk TCG Group’s negotiators. Through our joint efforts, bit by bit, the front-line settlements of the Donbas return to a peaceful life," said Iryna Herashchenko, the Presidential envoy on a peaceful settlement of the Donetsk-Luhansk clash.
A diplomatic contribution to the current Donbas visit was also marked by the politician to be of high importance.
“Through such visits, our diplomatic officers are believed to get highly motivated towards further safeguarding Ukraine’s national interests in order to return the temporarily occupied territories of the Donbas and the Crimea,” notified Iryna Herashchenko, following the results of the working visit.