Social Benefits, Pensions Start Being Paid in Kharkov Region

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Pensions, social benefits and salaries to budget-sector employees have started being paid in the Kharkov Region, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Sunday.

"We have carefully listened to the guidance of the Kharkov Region on the payment of social benefits, pensions. There is now also a difficult situation there, but we have already started making payments — pensioners, budget-sector employees have already begun to receive salaries and social benefits," Khusnullin said in a video posted on Telegram after a meeting of the regional headquarters the day before.

Moreover, Moscow plans to form supplies of medicines for Kharkov residents in the near future, Anna Kuznetsova, the deputy chairwoman of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said.

"We will study the list of needs, try to calculate the demand for the near future, so that every time [you need it] there is a supply and so that you are sure you have the necessary amount of medicines with a margin," Kuznetsova said in another video published on Telegram of the Kharkov administration.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. As part of the mission, the armed forces of Russia and Luhansk have established control over part of the Kharkov Region and established local administrations there. Russian TV channels and radio stations have started broadcasting on the territory. In addition, the Russian ruble has been proclaimed as currency used alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia.