The Luhansk news agency, the LuganskInformCenter, reported today that the city electrical supply had been shut off, reported Russian state news agency TASS.
“Earlier, Vladimir Gritsai, CEO of Ukraine’s electricity provider Lugansk Energy Association warned that Ukraine’s energy ministry had issued an instruction to stop electricity supplies to the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) from midnight on Tuesday. This information was later confirmed by the Lugansk region state administration,” reported TASS.
The Donbass region is locked in a military struggle with the Ukrainian military but economic commerce has continued in certain forms over the last several years between the central Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian rebels. However, it seems economic pressure has become a new weapon in the struggle. Recently Ukrainian volunteers blockaded rail lines leading in to Donetsk in an attempt to shut off the flow of goods from the region and to force Ukraine to look elsewhere for raw materials.
The head of the Luhanck People’s Republic, Igor Plotnitsky, promised the LPR would not be without electricity if Ukraine shut off the power from Schastye. The Luhansk Energy Association said early in 2016 that it would start cutting off electricity to the LPR if it did not pay its bills.
