Russia's Putin approves cash payments to WWII veterans, people deployed in Donbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Saturday, signed a decree allowing a one-time payment of 10,000 rubles to the World War II veterans living in the Donbas region, according to a report by Sputnik News. “(I hereby order to) make a one-time payment in May 2022 to people with disabilities and participants of the Great Patriotic War living in DPR, LPR, and in the liberated territories of Ukraine in the amount of 10,000 rubles," the decree said. Situated in the east of Ukraine, Donbas comprises of Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), both of which have been controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since 2014.

Additionally, the Russian President also approved one-time payments of three million rubles and five million rubles to Russian officials and other civilians sent to the DPR and LPR to fulfil administrative tasks and help restore the republics' infrastructure in the event of their injury or death, respectively. Notably, just days before launching what he termed a Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Putin accepted the Donbas region as independent and also recently launched the Russian currency Rubles there.

"To mark the 77th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, the President resolved to make, in May 2022, a lump-sum payment of 10,000 rubles to the disabled veterans of and participants in the Great Patriotic War living in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Lugansk People's Republic and in the liberated regions of Ukraine."

If Russian forces win in the battle for the separatist region, which is already occupied by pro-Russian rebels, Moscow would be able to divide Ukraine into two parts providing Russian President Vladimir Putin with a much-needed victory. It is to note here that in over eight weeks of the Moscow-Kyiv war, Russia failed to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. 

What is happening in Ukraine?

This comes as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued for the 67th day on Saturday. In the latest development, Ukrainian forces fought village by village Saturday to hold back a Russian advance through the country’s east, while the United Nations worked to broker a civilian evacuation from the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol. Russians struck an airport on Odesa with missiles, leaving the runway annihilated. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky called upon the international community to help clear territories of explosives and mines as Russian attacks continued.

(Image: AP)