Unknown persons fired at Polish consulate building in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk
On the night of March 29, unknown persons fired at the building of the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk-a city of regional significance on the western territory of Ukraine. There are no casualties or victims. The investigation alleges that the attackers fired using an RPG-26 grenade launcher. The national police of the Volyn Oblast have opened criminal proceedings due to the shelling, and have qualified the event as a terrorist act. At the site of the event, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has worked together with the police.
Poland's Consul in Lutsk, Krzysztof Sawicki, said in a comment to Volyn24 news agency that a night attack on the premises of the Consulate is a terrorist act. The Consul said that the building that the intruders aimed toward was residential, and that one of the consulate employees lives there. He was saved by the fact that the shell hit not the window, but the roof.
The SBU, too, do not exclude the version of a planned terrorist attack against the consulate.
"The SBU will make every effort to identify and detain the culprits in a short time. Provocations against the Republic of Poland, which from time to time happen in Ukraine, are beneficial only to one side - the Russian Federation, whose handwriting is visible from afar," said the SBU press service in a statement.
Later, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook that Russian Special Services tried on behalf of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to organize a telephone conversation with the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda. He called it "another sign of the Russian trace" in the Lutsk incident.
"Russian Special Services tried in the evening to, on behalf of Ukraine, to organize a telephone conversation with Andrzej Duda. The so-called ‘pranksters’ did not know that the conversation had already taken place, and that the office of the President of Poland is in constant coordination with the Administration of the President of Ukraine," he wrote.
Later during the briefing, SBU Chief of Staff Oleksandr Tkachuk also reported on other possible reasons for the shelling, including hooliganism or revenge on the part of a person who did not receive a visa.
In connection with the terrorist attack, the Consulate Generals of Poland in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Vinnytsia and Lutsk have been closed by the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Poland. Only the Embassy will be in operation. Karol Yazovsky, Second Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Ukraine, announced this. He did not say for how long the consulates would be closed, only suggesting it might be a long time. At the same time, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Jan Dziedzičak, stated that the consular offices of Poland in Ukraine would be closed until they are provided with effective round-the-clock security.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko invited Polish President Andrzej Duda to involve Polish specialists in the investigation of the shelling in Lutsk. The presidents talked about this during the telephone conversation, the press service of the Ukrainian President reported.
"The leaders of the two countries agreed that no provocations should affect friendly Polish-Ukrainian relations. The interlocutors agreed to continue contacts at the highest level,” Poroshenko’s press service said. The Polish news web site of Onet.pl reported that Duda stated the need for "decisive action" because of the incident.
"The attack on the consulate of Poland is not only a state issue, it is also a matter of the security of our diplomatic establishment and the security of our compatriots in a territory where Poles have lived for centuries, and where some Polish families still live," Duda stated.