KYIV. Sept 25 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the participants in the 74th UN General Assembly session about Vasyl Slipak, a Paris Opera soloist who died in Donbas in 2015, to illustrate his premise that, in the 21st century, someone can be easily killed instead of being heard.
"I'll tell you a story. A story of a man for whom to be heard was the reason to live. After all, this man had a heavenly voice. He was called one of the best baritones and countertenors in the world. His voice sounded in Carnegie Hall in New York, the Notre Dame Cathedral, London's Covent Garden and the Opera Garnier in Paris. Each of you could have personally heard his unbelievable singing. But there is one thing that won't let you do that [...] This is how it looks," Zelensky said showing a machinegun cartridge at the UN General Assembly session in New York City on Wednesday.
"The 12.7 millimeters didn't just end his career. They ended his life. This costs $10. And, unfortunately, this is the price of a human life on our planet today," Zelensky said.
He said the man of whom he was talking was Ukrainian singer Vasyl Slipak, a Paris Opera soloist, who died in Donbas "while defending Ukraine from Russian aggression."
"There are thousands of such stories. There are millions of such bullets. Welcome to the 21st Century. A century of opportunities, in which, instead of an opportunity to be heard, you have an opportunity to be killed," he said.
Vasyl Slipak worked with top-ranking French opera theaters for 19 years. He was an active participant in the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. With the start of the Revolution of Dignity, he led a volunteer movement and coordinated public demonstrations in support of Ukraine in France.
Starting June 2015, Slipak was in the zone of the special operation in Donbas. He first provided volunteer aid and then joined the 7th volunteer battalion of Right Sector (an organization banned in Russia). He was killed by a sniper near the village of Luhanske in the Bakhmut district of the Donetsk region on June 29, 2015.