PRAGUE Czech humanitarian organisation Clovek v Tisni (People in Need, PIN) has been banned from the Doneck area in eastern Ukraine by separatist authorities, the aid group said in a statement.
It said it was one of two international aid groups in the Doneck area, and was helping residents with water and food supplies as well as home repairs ahead of winter.
“Local authorities have taken immediate actions to close PIN’s office including sealing the warehouse with humanitarian aid and ordering all international aid workers to leave the non-government controlled areas within 24 hours,” PIN said in the statement dated Nov. 26.
The ban was delivered on Nov. 25, it said. It said no reason was given for the decision to take away the group’s permission to operate in the region.
The aid group said it had provided food to 469,841 people this year in separatist-controlled areas of Ukraine, and provided material help or home repairs for over 100,000. It said it continued to operate in the Luhansk separatist area as well as on government-controlled territory.
Separatist violence erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and has killed 9,600 people so far. It continues despite the ceasefire agreed in the Belarusian capital last year.
The west blames Russia for aiding the separatists and has imposed economic sanctions on Moscow.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Mark Potter)
