MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. 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 the Ukrainian leadership over the death of a child in Donbass and give their assessment of the incident, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday, calling for discussions about Ukraine’s exclusion from the Council of Europe.
"I think it necessary for the OSCE PA and PACE, which love wasting their breath, to evaluate this and demand explanations from Ukraine’s leadership," Volodin wrote. "The exclusion of that country from the Council of Europe needs discussion," he added.
Volodin pointed out that "there is no stigma attached to the president of the country who sent a combat drone to war against his own people."
"Were Zelensky a true president of his country who was aware of what is going on under his leadership, he would probably think ten times," the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament noted.
According to Volodin, the tragedy occurred "with overseas patrons’ consent and the European states’ tacit approval," since the European Parliament or the US Department of State released no statements, nor European foreign ministers spoke up for it, nor decisions were taken to expel diplomats.
"Double standards? No. Much worse," Volodin added noting that "the country’s president who ordered [to deliver a strike] has not even bothered to offer condolences to [the child’s] family, nor has he promised to look into the incident."
A five-year-old child was killed in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in a Ukrainian drone strike, the DPR People’s Militia wrote on the Telegram channel on Saturday. The Donetsk news agency reported citing the DPR militia that the tragic incident took place in Aleksandrovskoye outside the town of Yenakievo.