Photo from UNIAN
Russia and the militants are responsible for the termination of Ukraine's power supplies to certain areas of Luhansk region, the Ministry for temporarily occupied territory and internally displaced people said.
According to the ministry, on May 7, 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by resolution No. 263 regulated the activities of energy suppliers in the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine, making it possible not to halt electricity supplies to any categories of consumers in the occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Lugansk Energy Association (LEA) was appointed a supplier for the militant-occupied parts of Luhansk region.
However, in July 2016, the militants of the so-called “Luhansk People's Republic” ("LPR") appropriated the assets of a government-appointed energy supplier located in the uncontrolled territory, while all efforts of the Ukrainian side in the Tripartite Contact Group in Minsk to reach an agreement to resume control over distribution networks and return them to the legal field of Ukraine were blocked, the ministry stressed.
Read alsoUkraine halts power supplies to occupied parts of Luhansk regionThe next step on the part of the "LPR" militants was the blocking with the support from the Russian Federation of coal supplies from the uncontrolled territory to the Luhansk Thermal Power Plant in the town of Schastia in the winter of 2017. In late January, rail tracks on the Sentianivka-Shypylivka stretch were blown up in a territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government, the report says.
In addition, the ministry said that "in March 2017, the enterprises in the occupied territories of Luhansk region that were the largest consumers of electricity and operated under the laws of Ukraine, were seized. As a result of the seizure, any legal relations with these enterprises have become impossible, including the supply of electricity, because their activities went beyond Ukraine’s legal field."
Read alsoRussia mulls power supplies to occupied area of Luhansk regionAlso, on April 24, 2017, a group of armed men captured the Mykhailivka electric substation, located in the militant-controlled territory. The staff subordinated to the state-owned operator of Ukraine's united power grids Ukrenergo were forced to shut down two power lines, the ministry said, adding that since consumers from the uncontrolled territories stopped paying for electricity, significant debts have accumulated over the past period.
Read alsoUkraine considering halt of power supplies to occupied parts of Donetsk region"In such conditions, Ukraine was forced to stop power supplies to certain areas of Luhansk region, as it warned in advance, giving the opportunity to take appropriate preparatory measures," the ministry emphasized.