News

Mykola Zelenec, Lithuania’s Honorary Consul in Luhansk, East Ukraine, was brutally killed by pro-Russian terrorists yesterday (August 22). According to the press statement by Lithuanian MFA released yesterday evening, Mr. Zelenec was kidnapped by armed terrorists, taken away into an unidentified location and found shot after 12 days of having gone missing.

“I’m deeply shocked with the news. (…) On behalf of the Lithuanian and myself I express our most sincere condolences to the Zelenec’s family,” said President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

 “We condemn this criminal act and believe that the identity of the perpetrators will soon be established and those guilty brought to justice,” reads the MFA statement.

Luhansk is a particularly troubled hotspot in East Ukraine, where Russia-sponsored terrorists are fighting with the Ukrainian Government.

The conflict which already lasts for a few months got a new spin yesterday after the Russian trucks carrying what they call ‘a humanitarian cargo’ ignored the protests of the Ukrainian border guards and invaded the Ukrainian territory.

Contrary to the earlier agreements, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) was not consulted and the content of the cargo was not properly inspected by the Ukrainian authorities before this action.

Lithuania, currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, immediately asked for an urgent Security Council meeting. This meeting was supposed to start tonight at 12:30 am New Delhi time.