12.01.2015, Donetsk.
Igor Martynov, Head of Donetsk, told reporters, that the city’s population in recent year almost reached the levels seen before the punitive operation in Donbass.
“In August 2014 Donetsk had only 500-520 thousand residents. Now people are gradually coming back. More than 300 thousand people returned to the city. The population of Donetsk now reached 850 thousand residents. You see the number of cars in the city for yourselves. The 100 thousand residents that are not here are the ones who can afford to stay in other territories. I think this segment of the population has left and is not coming back.”
He added that the situation in the city remains relatively stable for almost three months since the ceasefire was announced on September 1. However, the front-line townships on the outskirts of the city are still being shelled:
“Every week I leave to the Second Site district (2), Putilovsky bridge. You seem not to hear anything when you stay in the center of the city, but once we go there — there almost wasn’t a time when there was no combat, all the time, constantly. Yes, these are not the full-scale combat as before, there are no tanks, but there are 82mm caliber mortars, small arms.”
Source: RIA Novosti
