Donetsk, Feb 20 - DAN. More than 15,000 DPR coalminers and energy sector workers signed the joint petition by the DPR and LPR parliaments speakers to western and Russian leaders, the Republic’s Coal and Energy Ministry press service said on Monday.

“Fuel and Energy sector specialists encounter war-related reality daily. Fighting repeatedly caused power outages at coalmines with hundreds of miners underground working their shift. Energy workers’ repair teams often came under Ukrainian snipers fire,” the press service said.

On 31 January, DPR and LPR People’s Councils chairmen Denis Pushilin and Vladimir Degtyarenko brought forward a joint petition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel asking them to make Ukrainian leadership stop the Donbass genocide. Latest reports said the more than 164,000 DPR residents signed the document.*jk