Vladimir Putin held talks with the heads of the LPR and DPR

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin press service reports. At the beginning of the meeting, the head of state noted that the security situation in the DPR remains tense due to constant shelling.

During the talks, the president stressed that foreign media do not cover the shelling of the civilian infrastructure of the cities of Donbass, which is carried out by the Ukrainian military. The President also proposed to discuss issues of social security for the residents of the DPR.

“Still, I propose to start in the same way as in a conversation with the leader from Lugansk, with such problems that concern every resident of the Donetsk Republic, with the level of housing, water, heat, and healthcare. I propose to go over these vital topics, and then, of course, we will move on to where I started – to security issues, ”Putin said.

Pushilin, in turn, said that at present in large cities of the DPR, such as Donetsk, Makeevka and Gorlova, water is supplied every three days for two hours. At the same time, the authorities have already built a number of water conduits from reserve reservoirs, but this is not enough. According to him, other regions, in particular, Moscow, also help Donetsk in providing water.

“Donetsk is helped by the city of Moscow. This includes drilling wells, this is the supply of tanks, and this happens on a daily basis, because water losses remain. It seems that the system was filled, the boiler room seems to be working, and then the water leaks, it automatically turns off [система]the water does not have time to flow,” the head of the DPR said, noting that due to Ukrainian shelling boiler rooms are sometimes de-energized, which negatively affects heating.

In Mariupol, according to Pushilin, the heat is “a little more complicated, a little easier”: “There are no shellings, but nevertheless there is a lot of destruction. There was a solution with modular boiler houses, that is, to close the issue with block-modular boiler houses. And, in principle, the situation is now, if not completely resolved, then as much as possible.

Prior to this, the head of state held talks with the acting head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik. During the meeting, Putin said that the security situation in the region remains difficult. He asked Pasechnik to talk about the work on economic issues – the economy, the social sphere, and healthcare.

Pasechnik asked Putin to include the region “in some kind of state program for the supply of coal.” On the territory of the republic there is the only fuel, coal enterprise – the republican fuel company Vostokugol, the acting head of the region reported. According to him, problems arose, among other things, due to the fact that in 2022 58% of the miners went to the front, and the region sometimes does not have enough funds to pay salaries to workers.

“Maybe our coal is needed somewhere – Donbass coal, coal from Donbass. I understand that we are in some way competing, probably with Kuzbass, but at the same time, maybe our coal will be needed somewhere: somewhere the logistics will be better, somewhere our coal is good in some quality parameters ”, said Pasechnik, asking for subsidies to cover part of the salaries of miners, which will make this work more attractive, as well as provide decent pay for miners who return from the front.

Also today, Putin presented Pushilin and Pasechnik with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, first degree, Acting Heads of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Yevgeny Balitsky and Vladimir Saldo, third degree.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine began on February 24. Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. Subsequently, the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions became part of Russia, and martial law was introduced in the regions on October 19.