You're reading: Party of Regions thanks all those who helped to cope with snowfall

The Party of Regions has thanked all employees of utility services, rescuers, military and concerned citizens for their coordinated work in eliminating the aftermath of the snowstorm that struck Ukraine last weekend. 

“The cyclone that hit Ukraine was a real challenge for the country. Thousands of people and vehicles were stuck in snow. Extreme snowfall struck Ukraine. A month’s worth of snow fell from the sky within several hours. The equivalent snow cover reached 50 centimeters,” the press service of the Party of Regions said.

The statement notes that utility services, rescuers and military were urgently involved in snow clearance work on highways and city roads. Regional governors and mayors of towns and cities did everything they could to resolve as soon as possible the issues of providing people with all they needed.

The party said that the Ukrainian capital was hardest hit by the disaster. Nearly a million tonnes of snow has currently accumulated in Kyiv. Operational headquarters were already operating early on Saturday. Apart from utility utilities, the State Service for Emergency Situations and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were also involved in tackling the consequences of the snowstorm.

“But even in these difficult conditions, when people came together for a common cause, selflessly helping each other, there were also those who, for the sake of their personal ratings and political ambitions, decided to make use of the emergency situation,” reads the statement.

According to the press service, “some opposition parties even held impromptu rallies (by the way, at sites already cleared by people of snow), in order to appear on TV once again.”

The Party of Regions said that the red jackets of UDAR activists were noticed in the places that were previously cleared by utility services.

“They apparently wanted cameramen and photographers to easily drive up to the shooting location. ‘Critical points,’ in which ‘mobile snow clearance teams’ were working, were chosen rather well, for example, Peremohy Square. It’s noteworthy that the red robes of UDAR activists were not seen in TV reports from other disaster-stricken regions, for example, Vinnytsia, Sumy and other regions,” reads the statement.

The Party of Regions said it was well aware that in this extreme situation a lot of mistakes were made and there were some shortcomings.

“But the city’s life was supported by the authorities, rather than windbags,” reads the statement.

“The Party of Regions thanks all employees of utility services, rescues, military and just concerned citizens for their coordinated work in tackling the aftermath of the disaster. We also thank representatives of opposition forces, who heard our calls not to stay away from the problems of citizens and helped eliminate the effects of the disaster without a cynical political smear campaign,” the party’s press service reported.

On March 25, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the emergency situation due to heavy snowfalls in Ukraine had revealed a number of flaws in the coordination of the activity of services.

“The situation is really extraordinary, even senior citizens don’t remember such a phenomenon. Still a storm warning had been issued – but they did not take it seriously enough… The operations to clean up the aftermath of the natural disaster could have been more organized and conscious, and more attention could have been paid to the people – I mean at least informing them about it,” Azarov said.