KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2018) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted on Friday that Russia was extremely fast in reacting to the assassination of Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
"The lightning-fast reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry to the murder of Zakharchenko at least shows Russia's attempts to protect the puppets it supports and finances," Mariana Betsa, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, wrote on Twitter.
Zakharchenko was killed in a bomb blast in a cafe in downtown Donetsk earlier in the day. DPR Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Timofeev, who accompanied Zakharchenko, is in grave condition in a hospital.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and DPR officials said that Kiev was behind the assassination. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in its turn, said it was not involved in the murder.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in its affairs by supporting the DPR and the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Luhansk (LPR) in the embattled Donbas region. Russia has vehemently denied these claims and emphasized it was not a side to the conflict in the region.
