Protest to the Russian Embassy over the mass shelling of UkraineNews of the MinistrySpeeches, Statements

On 19 May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the representative of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Lithuania and handed a note of strong protest against Russia's continued aggression against Ukraine, the ongoing shelling of Ukrainian cities, targeting in particular civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Between 12 and 14 May, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a prolonged large-scale shelling of Ukraine, killing over 20 civilians, including three children, and injuring more than a hundred others. These strikes included the shelling targeting a UN vehicle carrying humanitarian aid in Kherson region. The airstrikes continued afterwards, including the intense shelling of Dnipro on 17 and 18 May, damaging the Mechnikov Hospital.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs draws attention to the fact that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented that Russian military forces have killed more than 15,000 civilians and injured over 40,000 in Ukraine. The data confirms that Russia's actions are deliberately directed against the civilian population of Ukraine, which constitutes indisputable violations of the norms of international humanitarian law and can be classified as war crimes. Under international law, there is no statute of limitations for war crimes or other international crimes, and Lithuania will make every effort to ensure that the organizers and perpetrators of these crimes may not escape liability.

In order to put an end to the senseless killing of civilians, Lithuania once again demands that Russia immediately stop its military actions, cease its aggression against Ukraine, withdraw its occupying forces from the entire internationally recognized territory of Ukraine, and compensate for all the damage suffered as a result of its aggression against Ukraine.