SEVASTOPOL. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Oleksiy Chaly, the chairman of the coordinating council for the organization of the Sevastopol municipal administration, has called on Russian compatriots to provide assistance to Sevastopol.
"The hero city [Sevastopol] has once again been besieged. A fund for supporting the Sevastopol residents has been set up. We need money for the city's and its population's normal functioning," Chaly said in a statement.
"Virtually every Russian city is somehow connected with Sevastopol's history, and nearly each Russian city has monuments reminding the people of our glorious city," he said.
"We are addressing those to whom our city and our common history are dear. We need your assistance. It is our common goal to preserve Sevastopol," Chaly said.
Participants in a rally in Sevastopol on February 23 elected Chaly as the chairman of the city executive committee, which had not existed in Sevastopol before. Then he became the chairman of the coordinating council for the organization of the Sevastopol municipal administration.
There is a city council and a city administration in Sevastopol now. The bill on Sevastopol's status as a hero city has been forwarded to the Verkhovna Rada but has not yet been passed.