Donetsk Residents Honor Memory Of Assassinated DPR's Leader Zakharchenko

Donetsk Residents Honor Memory of Assassinated DPR's Leader Zakharchenko

The residents of the capital city of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), whose leader Alexander Zakharchenko was killed in an explosion in a cafe Separ on Friday, are bringing flowers to the cafe, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

DONETSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2018) The residents of the capital city of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), whose leader Alexander Zakharchenko was killed in an explosion in a cafe Separ on Friday, are bringing flowers to the cafe, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

The area around the cafe is still cordoned off.

The residents of Russia's Crimea are also honoring the memory of Zakharchenko by laying flowers to his portraits at the central square of the city of Simferopol, where around 300 people have gathered for a mourning ceremony.

A memorial service was held in the capital of another self-proclaimed republic, the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). The service was attended by the LPR's acting head, Leonid Pasechnik, the republic's Foreign Affairs Minister, Vladislav Deinego, and a number of other ministers and senior officials.

Pasechnik said that he would not step down despite Zakharchenko's assassination and would fight until the end for the Donbas region.

"I am not afraid [to act as the LPR's head] because I have made my choice. There is no going back, only forward. We will fight to the end, to the last drop of our blood for our 'Russian world,' for our Donbas," Pasechnik told journalists.

Deinego, in turn, noted that the two republics would remain committed to the Minsk agreements.

"There is no room for changes here. He made the arrangements not as Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko, he signed the document [the Minsk agreements] on the part of the republic," Deinego said adding that the agreements were the only existing peaceful means of the conflict settlement.

Earlier in the day, acting head of DPR Dmitry Trapeznikov vowed to implement all the promises given by Zakharchenko.

Trapeznikov was later presented to DPR lawmakers at an emergency meeting of the republic's parliament. Lawmakers commemorated Zakharchenko with a moment of silence.

DPR Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Timofeev, who accompanied Zakharchenko to the cafe, sustained severe injuries as a result of the explosion and in a moderately severe condition in a hospital. According to the DPR Emergencies Ministry, two people were killed and 11 others were injured, with six of them were transported to a hospital.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and DPR officials said that the Ukrainian authorities orchestrated the assassination, however, the Ukrainian Security Service said it was not involved in the murder.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed on Friday his condolences over the death of Zakharchenko. The Russian leader expressed a hope that organizers and perpetrators of the attack would be found and punished. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that the assassination of the DPR leader was a provocation aimed at hindering implementation of the Minsk agreements on settlement of the conflict in Donbas.

The LPR interior minister said Saturday that Zakharchenko's death was a great loss, adding that he was "a true hero."

The DPR and the LPR have been involved in an armed conflict with Kiev since 2014, when Donbas refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government that came to power after then president Viktor Yanukovych had been overthrown. In February 2015, the sides signed the Minsk peace agreements, however, both parties have repeatedly accused each other of ceasefire violations.