Without Mariupol Ukraine Will Lose Currency Receipts

In case Ukraine loses control over Mariupol, the country will remain without foreign currency receipts, the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine also feared the metallurgical factories of the "Metinvest" group and "Azovstal" were already lost to his control as well.

"If the factories in Mariupol close, a social explosion will follow — 30 thousand of people will be jobless, and we as a country will be left without taxes and currency", Yatsenyuk claimed.

The head of Ukrainian ministry also added that the country has already lost a part of the production over a conflict in the South-East of the country.

Earlier it was reported that the eastern Ukrainian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) considers the southeastern city of Mariupol its own territory, though the issue should be solved by political means, the DPR negotiator said Thursday.

"We consider that all the territories within administrative units of the former Donetsk and Luhansk regions belong to us. It seems right to us that they [these territories] would be part of the DPR and the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic]. However, we'll do everything possible to make it happen through political means,“ Denis Pushilin said, answering the question on possible plans to fight for Mariupol.