KIEV, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Ukraine's conflict with separatist rebels in its eastern regions is draining the potential of the economy by the day, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.
Attacks by pro-Russian separatists on the infrastructure of the industrial east - mines, power stations, railways and bridges - were intended to strangle the economy, he told a government meeting.
"Russia is aware that rebuilding the Donbass (the industrial east) will cost not millions but billions of hryvnia," he said.
One billion hryvnia is approximately 80 million dollars. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Richard Balmforth, editing by John Stonestreet)
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