Poroshenko: Half of Donbass Infrastructure, Industry Completely Destroyed

This article was originally published on nsnbc.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported on Friday, that half of the infrastructure and 42 percent of the industry of the rebelling regions of Lughansk and Donetsk (Donbass) have been destroyed as the result of hostilities between rebelling militants and military as well as volunteer corps loyal to Kiev. 

Poroshenko, during a working visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lvov, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying:

Forty-two percent of the industrial potential, half of the infrastructure have been lost in the region, mines have been flooded, blast furnaces and coke-chemical batteries have stopped. … The task to restore Donbass is difficult. But my trips around the world show that we will be able to collect $1 billion from investors and restore Donbass very soon.

The Donbass region is considered as Ukraine’s industrial center, the region that is most rich in natural resources, and as the food chamber of Ukraine due to its well-developed agricultural sector and fertile lands.

It is noteworthy that the son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, belongs to those who invest in eastern Ukraine, including investments in hydraulic fracturing or fracking as a means to produce gas.

Poroshenko had earlier announced to journalists that there would be allocated $1 billion to rebuild the regions infrastructure and industry, saying that: "Reconstruction will be made through a special state budget fund as well as a non-state fund”.

The combat between the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lughansk People’s Republics, Ukrainian military and special combat units which in part are militant party organizations of the Svoboda Party dominated National Guard and of Pravy Sector, as well as volunteer corps funded by and loyal to local oligarchs has claimed about 3,500 lives, reports the United Nations. The UN stressed that a large part of those killed during the combat were non-combatant civilians.

The volatile ceasefire that has been negotiated between the belligerent sides in the Belarus capital Minsk, and under the auspices of the OSCE is, despite violations, largely intact and suggests that a peaceful solution during planned, further talks may be achieved.

Part pf the ceasefire agreement was the exchange of prisoners. An amnesty for those who have been participating in the rebellion against the post-February 22 coup d’État has been adopted and negotiations about special status for the regions are on the agenda. So far, however, it appears that the questioned legality of the post coup government is not on the table for discussion.

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The ceasefire has provided possibilities for the inspection of mass graves, and it appears that mass executions and serious war crimes have been committed by troops loyal to the Kiev government.

Astoundingly, the ceasefire has not been used to gather further evidence, especially wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 which broke up in mid-air after it had been impacted by high-energy projectiles which breached the hull of the Boeing 777-200 from the outside, leading to the death of all 298 passenger and crew on board the plane.