UN, July 19. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin fired back at Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba’s ‘groundless’ call for a special tribunal against Russia, pointing out that it is Kiev’s war crimes that need to be investigated.

"We have heard lots of similar statements, unfortunately, and the Kiev regime has been echoing those," the senior Russian diplomat said. A blatant campaign of pressure and distortion of reality is being waged against Russia, he added, slamming the accusations as groundless.

Vershinin cited information indicating Russia and its allied forces had cleared more than 60,000 mines and explosives left by Ukrainians since the start of the special military operation.

"Civilians primarily suffer from such mines and dangerous devices, and this should be punished. Attacks, where civilian facilities in Donbass are blindly shelled, should be punished," the diplomat said. He called for a probe into crimes by the Kiev regime that has been "targeting and hitting civilian facilities."

"Many Western partners prefer to turn a blind eye to [these facts], and stick to their own vision of the events that contradicts reality," the diplomat concluded.