KIEV, June 27 – The ecological situation in Donbas is dire and a critical situation has developed with coal mines located in temporarily occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) and Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's Verkhonva Rada Iryna Gerashchenko said.

"Seven [of the mines] are completely destroyed and cannot be repaired. There are 115 mines located in the occupied areas. Equipment has been stolen from several of them. Others have been flooded, requiring water to be pumped out to prevent ground water and rivers from being polluted," Gerashchenko said on her Facebook page.