Photo from UNIAN
The coal, which is extracted from the Ukrainian bowels, cannot and will not be used to blackmail and put pressure on Ukraine, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said at a meeting with representatives of the metallurgical complex.
"I initiated the meeting to assess the challenges Ukraine faced after the announcement of the coal blockade. What is happening requires coordinated actions. The challenges the economy is facing are very difficult. Enterprises, thermal power stations may be stopped due to the blockade. And Ukrainians will suffer from reckless politicized actions," Groysman said.
He recalled that Russia had launched aggression against Ukraine – both military and economic.
Read alsoSteelmakers forecast $3.5 billion loss in currency revenue due to trade blockade in Donbas"Russia is waging war against Ukraine. The first front is military aggression, and Russians know exactly that they cannot defeat the Ukrainian army and the people. After that, there came economic aggression – the Russian market and the third countries’ markets have been closed for Ukrainian goods. And now, Russia's task is to destroy Ukraine as a nation, undermine our capabilities. Restricting coal supplies will hit ordinary Ukrainians. Central heating will be halted in some places, electricity generation is under threat, and the next question is the economy. It started restoring, we began to accumulate resources, but now we have to solve the issues of the blockade. I'm surprised by the position of some politicians who, without explaining the consequences of the blockade, are beginning to play along with the Russians. And our task is to return Donbas to Ukraine. And the fact that the enterprises are producing coal from the Ukrainian bowels cannot be subject to blackmail and pressure on Ukraine," Groysman said.