Russia urges EU to press Ukraine over child’s death in drone strike
Russia has called on the European Union (EU) to demand an explanation from Kiev after a child was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian-speaking eastern Donbass region.
The five-year-old was killed in the drone strike on Saturday amid an escalation of armed clashes between the pro-Russian forces and Ukrainian troops in the restive region.
Citing pro-Russia forces, the Donetsk news agency reported that the tragic incident took place in Aleksandrovskoye outside the town of Yenakievo.
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA) should demand an explanation from Kiev about the incident.
He said that “there is no stigma attached to the president of the country who sent a combat drone to war against his own people.”
Volodin said the operation was carried out “with overseas patrons’ consent and the European states’ tacit approval.”
According to the Russian official, neither the EU, nor the United States have so issued any statements or made a move to expel Ukrainian diplomats over the incident.
“Double standards? No. Much worse,” Volodin said.
He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “who ordered (the strike) has not even bothered to offer condolences to [the child’s] family, nor has he promised to look into the incident.”
Donbass has been the scene of a conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian forces since 2014.
Kiev and Moscow have traded blame in recent weeks for a spike in violence in the region.
The armed confrontations began when a wave of protests in Ukraine overthrew a democratically-elected pro-Russia government and replaced it with a pro-West administration. The majority in those areas refused to endorse the new administration.
That new government then began a crack down on the mainly ethnic Russians in the east, who in turn took up arms and turned the two regions of Donetsk and Lugansk — collectively known as the Donbass — into self-proclaimed republics.
Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of having a hand in the crisis. Moscow, however, denies the allegations.
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