MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti) – At least 181 people have been killed in the Kiev government’s military operation against independence supporters in southeastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s acting prosecutor general said Tuesday.
“In total, 181 people were killed and 293 injured in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Ukraine's Acting Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky said, adding that the death toll includes 59 Ukrainian servicemen.
In mid-April, Ukraine’s interim government launched a special operation to crack down on federalists, but failed to gain control over the self-proclaimed independent republics in the country’s east.
Billionaire Petro Poroshenko, who garnered 54.7 percent in the May 25 presidential vote, demanded that Ukrainian forces complete the special operation in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk until his inauguration on June 7.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the new Kiev authorities for what it called "a punitive operation" and stressed the need for de-escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
Russia circulated a draft resolution on Ukraine humanitarian corridors to the 14 other members of the UN Security Council on Monday afternoon. The draft demands the immediate cessation of hostilities by the parties in Southeastern Ukraine and that the parties establish humanitarian corridors in order to allow the civilian population who wish to do so to leave safely the areas of hostilities.
