Comment by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding new casualties among peaceful civilians in the East of Ukraine

Yesterday, 1 July, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a comment with regard to hypocritical statements by the Ukrainian leader regarding allegedly "humane" use of military force in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.

Today we continue to inform the Russian, Ukrainian and the global community about new crimes by the Kiev regime, for which, as we have already noted, they will have to pay.

On the 30 June, 1 person died and 3 were injured as a result of an artillery strike at Slavyansk, Donetsk Region. The Ukrainian forces bombed the territory of the Reinforcement and Insulation Plant using missiles with an unknown chemical substance. 1 person was chemically injured and was taken to hospital in a severe condition. This person's larynx and nose mucosa are damaged. According to the information available and based on his symptoms, he was poisoned by chlorine. During the last day, 3 insurgents with signs of chemical poisoning were taken to the hospitals in Slavyansk.

On the 1 July, 7 civilians died as a result of the attack by the Ukrainian forces at Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region, which started in the evening of the 30 June.

Artillery missiles hit the building of School No.24 and a residential house, located at the intersection of Socialisticheskaya and Katerinicha Streets. Windows were blown out and the faзade of the building and a balcony were severely destroyed.

The artillery shooting at Kramatorsk was renewed in the evening of the 1 July. Vesely village (a suburb of Kramatorsk), which is located near the airfield, was shelled. Some missiles struck residential houses in a private sector and caused a fire. The Ukrainian authorities are also concerned about the fates of some small children. Lugansk was forced to evacuate the Dom Malyutki orphanage because of shooting by the Ukrainian forces.

On the 1 July the engineering crew of the REN TV Russian channel was mortared by the Ukrainian forces in the Lugansk Region, near the Ukrainian customs checkpoint at Izvarino. The reporter Denis Kulaga was shell shocked and injured, whilst the operator Vadim Yudin was shell shocked, as a result of the explosion of a mortar bomb. Moreover, 4 civilians were also injured and 2 of them are in a severe condition.

Over the last day, artillery missiles have partially destroyed schools No.14 and No.35, and severely damaged some residential houses in Lugansk. 2 locals were injured: one of them received a shrapnel wound, the other – a gunshot wound.

On the 1 July in the Donetsk Region, shots were fired by the Ukrainian forces at Slavyansk, Semyonovka Village and Yampol, Krasnyi Lyman Region.

A Russian national, from St Petersburg, died in the artillery shooting at Slavyansk. 3 persons were injured, one of the wounded women is in an extremely severe condition.

The Ukrainian artillery carries out strikes using high-explosive fragmentation shells. Buildings in the Artyom community, especially residential houses in Volnaya and Bulvarnaya Streets, were severely hit. The local population spent the last night in caves and bombproof shelters.

The approaches to the Nikolayevka Village, 15 km from Slavyansk, are subjected to massive shooting by Grad multi-launch missile systems, tanks and mortars.

As a result of the military actions of the Ukrainian forces on the 1 July Slavyansk was left without electricity. Several sites in Kramatorsk – the maternity hospital and the surgical department of the city hospital – also lost their power supplies.

On the 1 July in the Donetsk Region, 20 km from the Russian border, Ukrainian forces shot at two buses carrying refugees, who were heading to the Vladimir Region from Kramatorsk. There were 84 persons on-board the buses. Luckily, there were no casualties.

We again decisively request the Ukrainian authorities, if they are still able to assess the consequences of their criminal policy in a reasonable way, to refrain from shooting at peaceful cities and villages in their state and return to a real cease fire to save human lives.

The resolution of Ukraine's political problems by physical elimination of the nationals of their country hardly complies with the norms of the civilised European community, which Kiev pretends to belong to.

2 July 2014