Protest note handed to Russia over continued mass shelling of Ukraine

On 5 November, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania handed a diplomatic note, expressing strong protest to the Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the Russian Federation regarding the continued mass shelling of Ukraine by Russian military forces.

The note condemns attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which have disrupted electricity and water supplies. The Foreign Ministry also stressed that Russia's shelling of civilians and civilian objects, such as the Kherson children's hospital, proves that the aggressor is seeking to make life unbearable for the civilian population in the areas of Ukraine closest to the front line. Russian authorities have coordinated actions to drive out Ukrainian civilians from their homes, said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in a new report submitted to the UN General Assembly last week.

The Republic of Lithuania calls on Russia to immediately end drone and missile attacks and other efforts to terrorize Ukrainian civilians, including deportations, and to abide by international humanitarian law. Lithuania has repeatedly demanded that the Russian Federation cease its aggression against Ukraine, withdraw its occupying forces from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and compensate all the damage suffered by Ukraine as a result of the Russian aggression.