MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller (2001-2004) has acknowledged that the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine was systematically exterminated after the coup that took place in 2014.

"After the Maidan, the extermination of the Russian-speaking population in the east [of Ukraine] began," Miller said on Radio Zet. "It is difficult to say today how many people actually died on the Ukrainian and Russian sides, but it is true that people were killed."

In 2014, a three-month-long confrontation between supporters and opponents of European integration, known as the Euromaidan protests ended in a coup d'etat in Ukraine. President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted. The predominantly Russian-speaking population of the southeastern regions refused to support the new Ukrainian government. A referendum was held in Crimea, and Crimea and Sevastopol were reunited with Russia in March 2014.