Ukraine plans to resume paying pensions to residents of occupied Donbas

"We will resume paying pensions. We have resumed payment for the services we provide, that is, we are being paid for water from that side. We are now preparing to replace the order on a list of goods that people are allowed to transport across the contact line with a list of forbidden goods. This will definitely be done but it will take some steps as now the so-called blockade introduced by the National Security and Defense Council’s decision is in place, and another NSDC decision has to change it," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said in an interview with the Yevropeiska Pravda online media outlet.

As the minister noted, the prerequisite for lifting the so-called blockade is the return of Ukrainian enterprises which have been "nationalized" by pro-Russian militants.

Prystaiko added that construction of a bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska, the prisoner swap and some other actions are the elements of the "Zelensky plan" for restoring ties with the inhabitants of the occupied territories.

ol