KYIV. July 14 (Interfax) - The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Ruslan Khomchak, and Roman Mashovets, deputy chief of the presidential administration, have travelled to Donbas at the behest of President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the circumstances of a July 13 attack on the Ukrainian military near Zaitseve, Donetsk region, the president's press service said.
"We express sincere condolences to the families of the dead. It is an unfathomable tragedy for them, for us, for the country. (...) There can be no dual interpretation here. This is premeditated murder: murder, ambush, and another murder. All this convinces, yet again, that the war continues," Zelensky said.
Yesterday's killing of Ukrainian servicemen is "yet another proof of the cynicism, mendacity and inhumanness of the militias," he said.
The war will continue for as long as the other side is keen on destabilization and "as long as militants open fire on white helmets and medics after a confirmation of ceasefire," Zelensky said.
"This tragedy yet again returns us to the realization of our fundamental values. Ukraine must firmly stand by its territories. Ukraine must give a firm response to militants' ignoble actions. Ukraine must be clear about the risks posed by the existence of grey criminal enclaves. Ukraine must always know the price of the other side's 'promises'," the president said.
His press service said that Zelensky took the situation under his personal control.
Earlier, Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said that on July 13 in Zaitseve, while approaching the body of a slain serviceman it was dispatched to remove, the evacuation group was "ambushed" by the enemy which "used small arms, firing on members of the evacuation group practically at close range."
The Ukrainian military stressed that the group wore white helmets and appropriate insignia and that it moved to collect the body after ceasefire was confirmed.
"As a result, a military medic was killed, one soldier was injured and another suffered a combat wound. Further evacuation was impossible, since the enemy continued shelling, now various grenade launchers and large-caliber machineguns," the JFO said.
The prosecutor's office of Ukraine's Donetsk region has launched a preliminary investigation into violation by Donbas militiamen of the laws and customs of war, coupled with premeditated murder.
"Prosecutors have established that on July 13, while trying to remove the body of a dead reconnaissance platoon commander killed by an unknown explosive device near the village of Zaitseve, Bakhmutskiy district, representatives from a Russian illegal armed group fired large-caliber small-arms on the personnel who wore medical insignia," the press service of the prosecutor general's office said.
As a result, a sergeant, who was a senior combat medic in an air assault company, was killed and a deputy chief of staff sustained injuries of medium severity.
The dead bodies are still on the battlefield because the enemy has not guaranteed ceasefire, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he will inform international partners about the killing of an army medic. He stressed that Ukraine would do everything to make the enemy to pay a high price for this crime. From a legal perspective the murder bears the hallmarks of a war crime, he said.