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Russia lodges resolute protest to Ukrainian charge d’affaires over territory shelling

“The note given to the [Ukrainian] diplomat stressed that the Russian side considered this provocation as a new aggressive act by the Ukrainian side against the sovereign Russian territory

MOSCOW, July 13 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry lodged a resolute protest to Ukraine’s charge d’affaires on Sunday over the shelling of the Russian border town of Donetsk, calling it a new aggressive act by the Ukrainian side.

The Ukrainian army shelled the town of Donetsk in the Rostov Region with high-explosive projectiles early on Sunday. One shell hit a private house, killing one and seriously wounding two persons.

“On the same day, Ukraine’s charge d’affairs in the Russian Federation was called to Russian’s Foreign Ministry where the Russian side lodged a resolute protest to him,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The note given to the [Ukrainian] diplomat stressed that the Russian side considered this provocation as a new aggressive act by the Ukrainian side against the sovereign Russian territory and citizens of the Russian Federation,” the statement said.

“It was emphasized that this incident testifies to the extremely dangerous escalation of tension in the area of the Russian-Ukrainian border and may have irreversible consequences, the responsibility for which will be borne by the Ukrainian side,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The Russian side once again insists that the Ukrainian side should unswervingly adopt resolute measures to prevent such provocations,” the statement said.

The Russian territory has repeatedly come under fire from Ukraine recently but there have been no victims until now.

On Saturday, July 12, the Ukrainian military fired at a Russian border guard squad in the Kuibyshev district of the Rostov Region on the Russian-Ukrainian border. “The Russian border guards fired with their weapons in response, after which the shelling ceased,” spokesman for the regional border guard branch Vasily Malayev told ITAR-TASS.

The squad comprised three border guards. None of them was hurt,” the spokesman said.

Also on Saturday, four shells fired from Ukraine exploded in the Kuibyshev district of the Rostov Region, 300 meters from the Russia-Ukraine border. There were no victims among local civilians or border guards.

Fierce fighting continues between the pro-Kiev military and self-defense militia in the east Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which proclaimed their independence from Ukraine at their local May 11 referendums. The Ukrainian military is using heavy weapons to bring the regions back under Kiev’s control.