The head of the DPR announced signed contracts for the supply of coal "with many European countries"

The head of the self -proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, announced the existence of contracts for the supply of coal with European countries on the air of the Novorossiya TV channel. He also commented on the problem of excess of coal in the DPR caused by the blockade of Donbass, promising its decision in the very near future.

“We have now found new contracts and signed contracts with many European countries, and not only with Europe, but also with Turkey,” Zakharchenko quoted the Rain television channel.

According to the leader of the DPR, the situation with coal surplus in the republic will be solved as follows: coal will begin to be supplied to the Donetsk metallurgical plant, which will be launched in July, as well as to the Enakievsky metallurgical plant, at which the second furnace will be used. “By August month, we will close the problem of the sale of coking coals,” Zakharchenko emphasized.

He added that the excess of coal formed not only because of the economic blockade from Kiev, but also due to the introduction ofexternal management at the enterprises of businessman Rinat Akhmetov.

Recall, on January 25, representatives of Ukrainian volunteer battalions, supported by a nearby parliamentarians, blocked the movement of cargo trains with coal following from the Donbass regions that were not controlled by Kyiv. The radicals explained their actions with the need to combat smuggling, allegedly going along with coal. After half a month in Ukraine, a state of emergency in the energy sector was introduced.

In early March, it became known that coal mines located on the territory of the DPR and the LPR, including those on which external management was introduced, stopped supplying coal to Ukraine. Instead, fuel supplies to Russia started.