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Foreign mercenaries used civil infrastructure in Kramatorsk, says Lavrov

President of Colombia Gustavo Petro handed down an order on June 28 to lodge a protest to Russia after three Colombian nationals were injured in Kramatorsk

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side used civil facilities in Kramatorsk for accommodation in breach of international humanitarian law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an online briefing on Friday.

"We [Russia] have not seen the confirmation of any fact that the Russian army deliberately shelled civil facilities. The fact that the Ukrainians use civil facilities for holding all sorts of meetings of mercenaries, Western generals and instructors with their military, breaching international humanitarian law and committing a war crime, is Ukraine’s fault. If we spot such gatherings, like the meeting in Kramatorsk, we will destroy them because these are the people who have declared a war against us," Lavrov said.

President of Colombia Gustavo Petro handed down an order on June 28 to lodge a protest to Russia after three Colombian nationals were injured in Kramatorsk. According to the data of the web portal Infobae, former adviser to the Colombian president for peace settlement Sergio Jaramillo and writer Hector Abad went to the Donetsk People’s Republic after participating in a book fair in Kiev. They were accompanied by journalist Catalina Gomez.

In response to Kiev’s accusations of the deaths of civilians after Russia’s missile strike on Kramatorsk, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia never targets civil infrastructure.

Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on June 28 that Russian forces had struck the deployment site of the command staff of the Ukrainian army’s 56th motorized infantry brigade in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Russian embassy in Colombia later slammed as reckless the trip by the Colombian nationals to Kramatorsk.

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