DISINFO: Ukrainian army killed 6-years-old girl in Donbas on the Holy Trinity day
SUMMARY
On June 8, 2014, a 6-years-old girl died on the Holy Trinity feast day in the Donbas. The Ukrainian Army opened mortar and artillery fire in the centre of Slavyansk. For the first time, the BM-21 Grad reactive rocket launcher was used.
RESPONSE
A spokesman for the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations in New York, Oleg Nikolenko, pointed out that the photo actually shows eight-year-old Anastasia Lutsyshyna from the Russian city of Ussuriysk, who was killed in 2013 by a taxi driver. The photo of this girl can be found on the web since 2013. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government.” In July 2014, The European Union stated that "arms and fighters continue (to flow) into Ukraine from the Russian Federation". At the September 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, NATO leaders condemned Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in the strongest terms and demanded that Russia stop and withdraw its forces from Ukraine and along the country’s border.