Main News of Donbas over the week of 23-29 March 2015

The number of victims of the conflict in eastern Ukraine has exceeded 6,000 people. This has been stated in the report of UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "Complete details about the victims of recent exacerbation of hostilities (from mid-January to mid-February) are not yet available. Overall, since the conflict began in mid-April 2014 until 19 March 2015, there have been  documented deaths of 6072 people, another 15,345 were injured,"- the report says.

On 23 March, settlers from the territories under control of illegal armed groups held a picket in front of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The settlers were demanding to abolish the provision on temporary registration with the Migration Service, which the Ukrainian authorities had previously established as a mandatory procedure.

The militants have destroyed more than 1,500 railway objects, 1,5 thousand km of roads, 33 bridges and overpasses length of about 3,000 meters in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. This has been reported by Nataliya Bystraya, the Head of press service of State Emergency Services.
Separatists are increasing their combat capacities over entire area of the ATO. Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military-Political Studies, has published this information on his Facebook page on 23 March. According to him, the supply convoys are arriving to the Donetsk region through Alchevsk, Debaltseve and Uglegorsk.

There are price tags in Russian rubles appearing in Donetsk stores. According to representatives of trade networks, this is done in accordance with the "decree of the Head of DPR" “on the establishment of multi currency zone in DPR". On Wednesday, the dual price tags have also appeared on a considerable number of gas stations in Donetsk.

On 25 March, the Security Service of Ukraine has postponed the launch of e-permit system on the area of ATO, - said the head of the Service Valentin Nalyvaychenko. "There are problems - insufficient and unreliable electrical grid and the Internet coverage - in Donetsk and Lugansk regions," - said Nalyvaychenko. At the same time, the Service website reports that due to the numerous appeals and requests, the work of the special service’s call-center is temporarily limited, and there are a number of steps being taken in order to increase the communication channels on the "hot line" of the Security Service of Ukraine.

In Donetsk, vitally important medicines are almost out. This has been announced by Emil Fistal, Head of Department of thermal injuries and plastic surgery of the Institute of Emergency and Reconstructive Surgery named after V.K. Husak of National Medical Sciences Academy of Ukraine). "The blockade is not only an economic and social, but now also a transport one. They do not allow our employees to work. Patients are not allowed, although before, in peaceful times, we would treat 18,000 people every year. And we would conduct 12,000 operations. Patients used to come to us from all over Ukraine. The blockade is aimed not at the separatists, but against the population. We are now surviving at the expense of the leftovers of chemotherapy, which will last for another month", - said the doctor.

On 25 March, near the town of Artemovsk, a bus with passengers hit a mine and exploded. The bus was on a route Artemovsk - Horlovka. This happened when the bus was going around the block post because it hadn’t made it through the checkpoint before the set time. The bus drove through the field, where there was a warning sign "Mines". As a result of the explosion, 21 people were injured, four people died. Doctors assess condition of the wounded as moderately severe. The ATO press center issued a claim that the passenger bus hit the mine laid by the militants, but the media controlled by militants are trying to shift responsibility to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 26 March, police has arrested the bus driver. He did not suffer in the explosion. The driver faces from 5 to 8 years of imprisonment. There is an ongoing investigation.

In Donetsk region, there will be build more than 200 fortifications. This was stated during the board meeting of the Regional State Administration by Alexander Klimenko, the region’s Deputy Governor on March 26. He said that the area of responsibility of Donetsk region is in setting up 24 fortifications. Construction of the rest of fortifications will be carried out by other regions and by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On 28 March, the Chairman of Donetsk Regional Military and Civil Administration Alexander Kikhtenko has approved the budget of Donetsk region for 2015. The 2015 regional budget revenues are predetermined to be more than 9.5 billion USD. It is reported that the surplus of the general fund of the regional budget will be almost 163 million UAH. The same amount will be the special fund’s deficit.