“We consider the incident as a crime against humanity, a pure provocation aimed at undermining the efforts on peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, including a tentative progress reached during the recent meeting of the ‘Normandy Four’ foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France,” Lavrov said in a statement.
Earlier on Thursday, a mortar struck a trolley bus stop in the city killing between 9 and 15 people, according to various sources, and left several more injured.
The DPR Ministry of Defense suggested that the attack could have been conducted by a Ukrainian sabotage group.
Russia's foreign minister has offered condolences to the families of those killed in the accident and wished a speedy recovery to those wounded.
Moscow also urged an immediate launch of an investigation into the incident with the participation of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). “Everything must be done to stop Kiev from shelling the cities of Ukraine’s southeast and prevent a further senseless killing of civilians,” Lavrov said in a statement.
At the most recent Normandy format meeting that took place Wednesday in Berlin, Lavrov and his Ukrainian, French and German counterparts called for an immediate end to the fighting in Donbas.
