‘ALL THOSE complicit and responsible for the terrorist attacks on Russian territory will inevitably be held accountable,’ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, commenting on the shelling of Donbass cities and towns by the Kiev regime.
May 11 was declared Republic Day in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), and May 12 in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).
‘On May 11, the day of the anniversary of the DPR, Ukrainian neo-Nazis fired US-made HIMARS missiles at the city of Donetsk. As a result of a direct impact on the Paradise restaurant in the Kirovsky neighbourhood, three people were killed and eight more wounded, including a 12-year-old girl,’ Zakharova said in a statement.
‘Other districts of the city were also hit. Explosions occurred near the newly opened regional perinatal centre and at a cafe outside which the participants in a rally dedicated to Republic Day were gathering. Luckily, none of the people there were injured,’ she said.
‘Russia’s Investigative Committee has promptly begun an investigation into this crime. All those complicit and accountable for this and other terrorist attacks on the territory of our country will be inevitably punished.’
Zakharova recalled that May 11 marks the 10th anniversary of the historic referendum on the future of the two republics, which was held in the DPR and LPR.
‘Therefore, the Bandera (WWII Ukrainian Nazi leader Stephan) followers, supported by the United States and its Western-led phalanx, have cynically timed a string of barbaric terrorist attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in the republics of the Russian Donbass to coincide with the anniversary.
‘We are convinced that no matter how the Zelensky regime tries in impotent rage to obstruct our course of restoring historical justice, he will fail,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, adding:
‘Together we will bring back the long-awaited peace and will solve the most complex tasks. Victory will be ours!
‘Now, the DPR and LPR are an inseparable part of our Motherland – the Russian Federation,’ she stressed.
‘Thanks to the support of the entire country, of all our people, the massive reconstruction of the war-damaged economy is in full swing in the republics, the programmes aimed at consolidating the economy and social area, and improving living standards are being implemented,’ she said.
According to Zakharova, most of the voters in the then Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine supported the self-determination of the regions. The people’s disagreement was triggered by the nationalist policy of the Kiev regime which came to power through an unconstitutional armed coup.
The majority of those who cast their ballots in the referendums supported sovereignty: 96.2% in the LPR and 89.7% in the DPR. On this occasion, May 11 was declared Republic Day in the DPR, and May 12 in the LPR.
The Ukrainian military has shelled the western part of the city of Donetsk, leaving a civilian injured, city administration head Alexey Kulemzin said on Sunday.
‘A man born in 1982 suffered injuries at a public transport stop after Ukrainian Nazis shelled the Petrovsky District of Donetsk this morning,’ he wrote on Telegram.
According to the DPR’s mission to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to Ukrainian War Crimes, Kiev forces carried out two attacks on the Petrovsky and Kirovsky districts of Donetsk since early morning on Sunday, which involved artillery and a kamikaze drone.
Elsewhere, fragments of a downed Tochka U missile hit a high-rise residential building in the city of Belgorod.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, air defences downed six Tochka U missiles, four Vampire rockets and two Olkha rockets.
‘Fragments of one of the downed Tochka U missiles damaged a residential building,’ their statement read.
The Russian Investigative Committee, confirmed the attack caused fatalities. An investigation has been launched into the act of terrorism.
A section of a high-rise residential building has collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod, an emergency official told TASS later on Sunday.
‘A section of a ten-storey residential building collapsed on Shchors Street in Belgorod,’ he said.
According to emergency services, five people suffered injuries, but the casualty toll is likely to rise.
There is a risk of further collapse. A search and rescue operation is still underway; people have been evacuated from the building.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military carried out another drone attack on the town of Shebekino in Russia’s borderline Belgorod Region.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that two industrial facilities had been hit, specifically a production room roof and a canteen, but ‘there were no casualties.’
- Over 4,000 people have been evacuated from the Kharkov Region’s areas bordering Russia, Oleg Sinegubov, head of Ukraine’s regional military administration, said on Sunday.
‘A total of 1,377 local residents have been evacuated from the Chuguyevsky District, 2,097 from the Kharkovsky District, and another 29 from the Bogodukhovsky Sky District. Volunteers have evacuated 570 people,’ he wrote on Telegram.
Earlier, Sinegubov announced that about 1,800 people had been evacuated from the three districts.
Vitaly Ganchev, head of the Kharkov Region’s military-civilian administration, said on May 10 that fighting was underway in several areas along the line of engagement.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry reported that reserve troops had been deployed to the Volchansk area in the Kharkov Region. Local authorities said that civilians were being evacuated from the town of Volchansk.
- Last Thursday, celebrations marking the 79th anniversary of Victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War were held in over 300 cities and towns across Russia.
The Russian Defence Ministry said: ‘On May 9th, military parades and festive processions featuring weapons and military equipment were held in the Russian Federation to mark the 79th anniversary of Victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.
‘Festive events took place in more than 300 cities and towns. A total of over 150,000 people attended them.
‘There were 90,000 military personnel from the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, and more than 60,000 people from other security agencies and public organisations.’
More than 2,500 pieces of military hardware and special equipment, including 121 aircraft, took part in military parades, festive processions and exhibitions.
Military parades also took place in the cities that host the headquarters of military districts as well as the Baltic, Northern and Pacific Fleets.
On May 9th, Russians observed a traditional moment of silence to pay tribute to those who died or were killed during the Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany in 1941-1945.
Russian television channels and radio stations suspended broadcasting for five minutes at 6.55pm to honour the memory of victims.
The television programmes showed portraits of fallen heroes and lit candles of remembrance, as well as the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden next to the Kremlin wall.
‘A Minute’s Silence’ remembrance programme has been held in Russia every May 9th since 1965 and remains one of the annual mourning ceremonies marking Victory Day.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin also congratulated Russians on Victory Day from aboard the International Space Station.
‘Dear friends, the crew of the Russian segment of the International Space Station with all our hearts congratulate you on Victory Day!’ station commander Oleg Kononenko said.
- There is no doubt that the Soviet Union turned the tide of World War II, said Frank Cohn, a United States veteran who took part in the meeting of Soviet and US troops at the Elbe River near the town of Strehla on April 25, 1945.
Recently, attempts have been made in some Western countries to falsify history and revise the outcome of World War II. Efforts are made to portray the USSR as one of the countries that unleashed the war, while the contribution of the peoples of the Soviet Union to the liberation of Europe and Asia from fascism and militarism is deliberately downplayed.
‘There’s no question that the Russians changed what was going on at Stalingrad and they started to move westward and we had our invasion.
‘If the Russians hadn’t kept a lot of German troops at the eastern front, we would have been in a very bad shape. We never would have had a foothold in our invasion if it wasn’t for what was going on, on the Russian side,’ retired US Army colonel Cohn, said in an interview with TASS.
He made the comment when asked about the role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japanese militarism in World War II.
He said the people that ‘refuse to do justice to the Soviet role in the war simply don’t understand what was going on.’
