KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2021) Kiev sent a note of protest to the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE SMM) over the reports that a child was killed and a woman injured by a Ukrainian military's drone strike on the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
On April 3, the DPR People's Militia reported that the Ukrainian military deployed a drone with an explosive device in the DPR, which killed a child and wounded a woman. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told the press that he had no verified information concerning the incident, but "had no reason to doubt that the information provided by the self-proclaimed republics on these matters is true."
"Yesterday [on Monday] the Ukrainian side in the JCCC [Joint Control and Coordination Commission] sent to the OSCE SMM a note on the intentions of the occupying administration [DPR] to falsify events in the village of Aleksandrovskoye, Donetsk region of Ukraine," Kiev's delegation posted on Telegram.
The delegation claimed that the militias did not provide evidence of its involvement in the incident, including photo or video materials, fragments of an explosive device, exact coordinates, time and place of the event, personal information about the victims, the nature of the injuries received.
Additionally, the delegation stated that the village was far from the contact line, about 15 kilometers (9 miles), which, allegedly, makes the use of the drone questionable.
Kiev strongly denied its involvement in the incident, noting that the Ukrainian military strictly adheres to the ceasefire regulations, including the ban on the use of any types of aircraft.
The Ukrainian conflict has been mediated by the so-called Normandy Format, including Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany, since 2014. In February 2015, Normandy leaders held talks in Minsk that resulted in an agreement to stop the fighting and seek a long-term political resolution to the conflict. Amid escalation of violence in the region, Russia and other countries have reinstated that all sides should adhere to the Minsk deal to resolve the crisis.
