Colombia’s Foreign Ministry condemned a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that killed at least 11 people and injured three Colombian citizens.
In a press statement, the Foreign Ministry called the Tuesday attack “unacceptable” and expressed the government’s solidarity with former peace commissioner Sergio Jaramillo, writer Hector Abad and journalist Catalina Gomez.
Foreign Ministry
President Gustavo Petro said that the attack “violates war protocols” and asked Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva to send a formal letter of protest to the Russian government.
In a response, a spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed her regret that Colombian citizens were injured in the attack.
Spokesperson Maria Zajarova asked why the Colombians had been invited to Kramarosk, which the Russian Embassy in Bogota called an “operational and logistical military hub.”
According to the embassy, the attacked city was “not an appropriate place to try Ukrainian cuisine.”
Russian embassy
The person who had invited the Colombians to Kramarosk, Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, was seriously injured in the attack.
The attack ended the Colombian government’s attempts to remain neutral in the armed conflict that began when the Russian military invaded Ukraine in February last year.