Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk has expressed his condolences over the tragedy that took place in Paris on January 7, reports European Pravda, citing the Ukrainian government press service.
“We mourn and pray for those who have lost their lives and for the families who have lost their loved ones,” Yatseniuk said during an appearance at the German Society for Foreign Policy on Thursday, January 8, during his official visit to Berlin.
“Some might say that what is happening in Ukraine — the antiterrorist operation against the terrorists led by Russia — will not affect us. But it has happened. It has happened in Canada, in Australia, in Belgium. Yesterday it happened in France,” he said.
Yatseniuk emphasized that the Russian Federation ” has decided to seize and illegally annex Crimea and eastern regions of Ukraine.”
“President Putin has decided to start this aggressive military operation, to launch a war against the Ukrainian people,” he said.
Yatseniuk also noted that the conflict taking place in Ukraine is not only a conflict between Ukraine and Russia: “It is a global issue. We are fighting for our independence, our freedom, our country, our land…We must be united against terrorism, ” he said.
As has been reported, on January 7, three armed men attacked the editorial offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 10 journalists and two policemen. Caricatures of Islamic religious symbols provided the apparent reason for the attack.
Early on January 8, in Villefranche-sur-Saône in eastern France there was an explosion in a restaurant located next to the mosque. On Thursday morning, unknown persons threw several grenades into the courtyard of the mosque in the French city of Le Mans. On Wednesday in Port-la-Nouvelle in the Aude department on the Mediterranean coast of France, an unknown person fired his gun in a prayer room an hour after the evening prayer.