While representatives of Russia, the United States and Ukraine were participating in the talks on settling the conflict, held on January 23-24 in Abu Dhabi, the Kiev regime and its armed units committed yet another barbaric crime against our country’s civilians.
In the early hours on January 24, an ambulance vehicle with a medical crew of the Aleshkovo Central District Hospital, en route to a severely ill patient, was attacked close to Golaya Pristan in the Kherson Region.
The vehicle was distinctly labelled as medical transport; however, it was directly targeted by a Ukrainian drone. The drone operator knew he was striking a civilian van; yet, they and their commanders made a conscious and inhumane decision to commit a terrorist act against civilians. The three medical workers in the ambulance vehicle were killed. It should be stressed that attacks on civilian medical transport are prohibited by international law.
With this act, the Kiev regime not only prompted conflict escalation but also demonstrated, once again, its true, or absolutely irresponsible, attitude to the resolution efforts being taken at this particular moment.
We strongly condemn the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ direct attack on civilians. We sincerely sympathise with the victims’ families and loved ones. Russian investigative and law enforcement bodies will do their best to hold the organisers and executors of this extremely grave crime accountable, with an inevitable and harsh punishment.
We demand that international competent bodies issue an objective and impartial assessment of this and other criminal acts by the Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Silence and connivance with the Kiev regime are unacceptable.