ATHENS – The Russian Embassy in Athens expressed its deep grief over the death and injury of Greek community members in the region of Donbas on Saturday, adding that “Russia’s special military operations in Ukraine only target military units and infrastructure exclusively.”

“We do not bomb inhabited areas and villages, nor any political or social infrastructure. The Russian Air and Space Forces were not operating in the region of the Sartana village today,” it said in a statement. It added, “the Ukrainian army and nationalist neo-Nazi orders have been known for years to attack civilians, even with heavy weapons. This is proven and officially documented.”

The embassy warned that “the Kiev regime is possibly using the Greek and other ethnic minorities living in Ukraine to provoke and inflame the anti-Russian reaction abroad.”