Yesterday we witnessed tragic events in Donetsk, which led to casualties.

MFA of Ukraine deeply sympathizes with the relatives and friends of those killed and injured. The government will do everything possible to investigate the offenses committed on March 13 in Donetsk and punish everybody who is guilty.

The Ukrainian government will make every effort to ensure that such a tragedy does not occur again.

As you know, restraint and peacefulness of Ukraine’s actions under the conditions of direct aggression by the Russian Federation are recognized and highly appreciated by the civilized world.

In this context, today’s statement of Russian Foreign Ministry, in which the Russian side makes a rough attempt to shift the responsibility for the tragedy on the Ukrainian government, impresses with its cynicism and irresponsibility.

One should recall that the conflict was provoked in the end of the peaceful meeting, when most of the people had already left the square. Therefore, it is obvious that the provocation had been planned before and had a direct relationship with the targeted destructive actions of Russian individuals and some Russian NGOs whose representatives have come to our country to destabilize the situation and to escalate the tension herein.

This statement is proved by an established fact of detaining a citizen of the Russian Federation by the Security Service of Ukraine on 10 March in Donetsk, who is suspected in the creation of armed sabotage and subversive groups to destabilize the situation in Ukraine.

The tragedy in Donetsk also results from illegal actions perpetrated in Kharkiv by Michael Chuprikov, a citizen of the Russian Federation, who incited citizens of Ukraine to outright violence and tried to set the national flag of the Russian Federation on the administrative building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration on March 1.

Therefore, we have to admit that outright misrepresentation of the events in Ukraine, double standards approach, as well as direct interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, have unfortunately become common for the Russian side recently.

We therefore once again urge the Russian Federation to stop the escalation of tensions in Ukraine and return to the international legal framework, and above all strictly adhere to the requirements of paragraph 7 of Article 2 of the UN Charter, which prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other states.

For its part, Ukraine will continue to take decisive actions to protect its citizens, regardless of their nationality, religion or political affiliation.