Half a million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine do not receive pensions since they returned to the territories not controlled by the Ukrainian government, Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine Yuriy Hrymchak has said.

"I would like to say that today 500,000 people are not deprived of pensions. The payment of pensions has been suspended until they return [to government controlled area]," Hrymchak said during a round table discussion "Returning Home: Scenarios of Social and Economic Reintegration of Donbas" in Kyiv on Thursday, November 30.

According to him, these people went to the territory temporarily not under the control of the Ukrainian government and did not return within two months.

"Are you sure that these people are safe and sound? It is the function of the state to check," Hrymchak said.