REUTERS
Lviv region's economic court has unblocked accounts of state-owned coal mining enterprise Lvivvuhillia, allowing a resumption of payment of wages to miners, which were frozen due to the enterprise's debt for electricity, according to local authorities.
"There is good news: the miners of Lviv region will receive the earned money ... I have just received a notification from the State Executive Service saying that state-owned enterprise Lvivvuhillia's accounts have been unfrozen," Lviv Regional Governor Oleh Syniutka wrote on Facebook on Thursday, March 9.
Read alsoExplosion reported at coal mine in Lviv region"The court has ruled to unblock Lvivvuhillia's accounts! Now the miners have hope for getting their wages, while the state-owned enterprise will be able to resume work," Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine Mykhailo Volynets in turn wrote on Facebook.
In his words, UAH 93.8 million, or about US$3.5 million, is now on the company's accounts.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the miners' trade union earlier planned to hold a protest rally, demanding the payment of wages to Lvivvuhillia workers.
According to the national register of court rulings, state-owned Regional Power Grids, which supplies electricity to coal mines, filed a claim at the Economic Court of Lviv Region on March 2, 2017, against Lvivvuhillia, demanding UAH 97.4 million, or $3.6 million, be recovered from the debtor company. The hearing of the case was scheduled for March 9. The All-Ukrainian Energy Assembly, which is an expert organization, estimates the coal industry's total debts for electricity supplies at UAH 11.6 billion, or $430 million, as of February 1, 2017.
As UNIAN reported earlier, there was a reportedly methane gas explosion in Lvivvuhillia's mine No. 10 Stepova on March 2, 2017. Eight miners were killed and over 20 people were injured.