MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he hopes that the Malaysian Airlines airplane crash in eastern Ukraine will help in forgetting about political ambitions.
“I really hope that this tragedy will help in forgetting about political ambitions,” Lavrov said during a live interview on Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
The conflict in Ukraine broke out after a February coup and the ouster of the former President Viktor Yanukovych. The southeastern regions of the country refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new authorities, initiated a referendum on independence and declared themselves sovereign states.
In mid-April, Kiev launched a special operation to suppress the militia in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, and the two sides have been in conflict ever since.
Many troops on both sides have been killed in the conflict so far, with the country’s civilian population also suffering greatly. The cities in the region have also been shelled multiple times, forcing people to seek shelter in Russian cities near the region’s borders.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko refused to stop the operation, calling for independence supporters lay down to their arms first.
