DONETSK (South Russia), June 15 (RIA Novosti) — Foreign military attachés visited the southern Russian city of Donetsk, which was hit by artillery shells launched from Ukraine over the weekend.
The attachés, who were accompanied by foreign journalists, examined the damage and shell craters caused by the artillery shells.
“I'm sorry for people who were injured or killed. It will take a lot of time to clarify the circumstances of this incident," said Reiner Schwalb, the German defense attaché in Moscow.
“The Russian side does not conceal the incident and our task is to understand this situation from the inside," Schwalb added.
At least seven artillery shells landed in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine on Sunday, leaving a man dead and two women injured. Russian investigators are currently trying to determine those responsible for the shelling.
Donetsk city prosecutor Dmitry Aristarkhov said “we definitely know that the shells came from the Ukrainian side and their origin … is to be established as part of a criminal case.”
The Russian Defense Ministry Tuesday invited military attachés from 18 countries, including the United States and Germany, to assess the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, which has been hit multiple times by Ukrainian artillery.
Deputy Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov stressed that Ukraine “cynically denies obvious facts and is doing everything to reject accusations of the shelling of Russian territory."
Among the attachés who visited the scene was a representative of the French military mission in Russia. The Chinese and Belgians also confirmed their participation.
A military attaché from Japan was unable to come to Russia, while the British Embassy said that its military attaché received no invitation from Russia.
Seven military attachés that have received Russian accreditation, including a Ukrainian national, have refused to travel to Russia.
