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Coal miners protest coal imports from Russia, demand energy minister’s resignation near parliament building

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Several hundred coal miners from all around Ukraine protested outside the building of Ukraine's parliament in Kyiv on March 2. They demanded from authorities to stop imports of coal from Russia, increase salaries and funding for the industry and dismiss energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn.

“He is not competent. We need somebody who used to work in coal industry and we have good specialists in the country,” Eduard Izmaylov, coal miner who came to Kyiv from Pavlograd told the Kyiv Post. Protesters were holding banners that read “No coal miners. No industry,” “Stop Russian imports, create jobs at mines, heating power plants.”