The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the attack on a civilian building and cultural centre in the Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia, killing more than 20 people, including children, and injuring dozens more.
“This atrocity in Vinnitsya is the latest in a long series of brutal attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure”, they said in a joint statement.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been ravaging the country for more than four and half months. Bucha, Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Kremenchuk, Sloviansk, Chasiv Yar, Kharkiv, Odesa, and now Vinnytsia – Russia’s Armed Forces and their proxies are leaving a trail of blood across Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have already been murdered”, the High Representative and the Commissioner strongly denounced, adding that this “barbaric behaviour” by Russia, “in total disregard of International Humanitarian law”, must stop immediately.
They reiterated that there can be no impunity for the violations and crimes committed by the Russian forces and their political superiors and that all those responsible for these atrocities will be held accountable in accordance with international law. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)