Mykhailo Volynets, chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine, has announced that President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine has instructed the government to solve urgent issues in the coal industry and that he is going to discuss such issues in detail soon.

"I have just talked to President Poroshenko on the phone to discuss the situation that has taken shape in the coal industry. The president said that he had called on the government to take measures to solve urgent issues and suggested that the issues that could not be solved on the phone be discussed after he returns to Kyiv," Volynets wrote on Facebook.

As was reported earlier, the coal miners at the Kapustin coal mine demand that their wages for the past four months be paid off in full. According to Volynets, the wage arrears already reached UAH 170 million. The miners started their strike on October 19, 2018.