MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin spoke to the Atlantic Council on Tuesday asserting that his government is committed to peace but did not address the civilian casualties in Kiev's “anti-terror” operations.
“We are not for a military solution in Donetsk and Luhansk. It's not about a military offensive, it's about peace. It's about our commitment to peace,” said Klimkin, who regularly referred to independence supporters in the east of Ukraine as “Russian backed terrorists.”
According to recent reports, shelling in the east of Ukraine has resulted in the deaths of 24 civilians and ten Ukrainian soldiers over the past day. This has drawn significant criticism from the United Nations and international humanitarian groups.
The western press, which up until recently has been very supportive of the government in Kiev, has also started reporting the loss of civilian lives which has been escalating since Petro Poroshenko's “anti-terror” initiative of this May.
“It's about a number of Russian citizens, mainly Russian citizens who have links to Russian forces who lead terrorism,” claimed Klimkin. “It's about a propaganda machine. They fool a part of the local population into believing that splitting with Ukraine would mean...a good life.”
Klimkin is in Washington DC to meet with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and members of the Congress. His meeting was scheduled to discuss the Malaysian Airline Flight MH17 disaster as well as the increased sanctions by the US and its European Union partners. The United States is currently working on an aid package to build up military responsiveness in Ukraine.
