Ukraine set up a “tariff race” to bleed the citizens for money — DPR Minister

The citizens of Ukraine have faced another hike in prices for water supply and wastewater disposal, Ukrainian media reports. The population of the territory temporarily controlled by Ukraine will have to pay 23 to 27 UAH per cubic meter of water (60-70 rubles), DPR Minister for Construction Industry, Housing and Public Utilities Sector Sergey Naumets commented on the antinational policy the Ukrainian government pursues.

“Over the past six years, the population of Ukraine has fallen hostage to destructive socio-economic processes that swept over Ukraine after the 2014 coup d’état. An illustrative example of this is the groundless increase in tariffs for housing and public utility services, which has become a kind of tariff race to bleed the citizens for money,” Sergey Naumets stated.

The minister emphasized that it is unacceptable to let the population fall victim to such a policy.

“To please the IMF, they are ready to raise the tariffs endlessly to repay previous loans. But there is a point of limit, after which people are unable to pay for the service. The citizens of Ukraine have been turned into a milk cow for the big business that runs the country. Not to mention the recent situation when the Ukrainian authorities announced in December that the prices of heating and hot water had been reduced, but in January, the encouraged citizens were getting bills where the promised reduction turned out to be an increase of about 50% on average,” Sergey Naumets noted.

For comparison, the minister noted that the current tariff for water supply in the Donetsk People’s Republic is more than three times lower than the Ukrainian one.

“In September last year, the Republic indexed the tariffs for water supply, wastewater disposal, maintenance of apartment houses, buildings and adjacent territories, and household waste management. The tariffs were increased only by one third of the prewar tariffs. At the same time, salaries and pensions were raised earlier. The Donetsk People’s Republic is experiencing the same problems as Ukraine in the municipal sphere. The responsibility to the population obliges us to provide affordable public utilities in full and of proper quality. The confirmation of that is a steady increase in the current level of payment for utility services between 2015 and 2019 by the residents of the Republic, which increased to 93% in 2019 from 65.7% in 2015. As a result, this state of affairs, despite all the hardships of wartime, becomes a factor of stability,” the minister stressed.