80% of buildings destroyed in Debaltsevo fighting— city mayor

A total of 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed during combat activities in the city of Debaltsevo in the Donetsk Region, city mayor Alexander Afendikov said Tuesday.

"Kindergartens, schools and other institutions do not work," the Donetsk news agency quoted Afendikov as saying. "The key task for us now is to restore housing, provide food and drink for people. The city has been 80 percent destroyed. Still, we are arranging peaceful life: we recently celebrated Pancake Week," reports Tass.

He said the central hospital will resume work on Wednesday. "As of now, only the children’s department has been restored, premises have been fitted with glass there, three wards for patients have been equipped, as well as the procedure and reception rooms," Afendikov said after an inspection of the medical institution.

Seven doctors are working in the medical institution, part of whom are volunteers who arrived from Donetsk. Until the restoration process is underway, the children’s department will receive everyone who needs medical aid.

"There is a certain stock of medications there, the patients will receive them free of charge," he said.

Clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April 2014, to regain control over parts of the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), have left thousands dead and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee Ukraine’s embattled east.