Greek societies in Ukraine issue statement after incident near border

The Federation of Greek Societies in Ukraine has issued a statement urging restraint in reporting related to an incident on Sunday that resulted in the death of two people and the injury of two others.

In a post on Facebook on Monday night, the federation was responding to reports earlier in the day about an incident involving Ukrainian soldiers in the village of Hranitne, near the country’s eastern border.

Describing the incident as a “tragedy” triggered by an “insignificant cause,” it said that only one of the victims was a Ukrainian citizen of Greek descent, as opposed to reports indicating that both were. The federation added that both individuals injured in the incident were ethnic Greeks.

Appealing to Greek media and particularly to social media commentators, the federation asked that “this tragedy not be endowed with a political character.”

“The clash, which took place at night at a local café had absolutely nothing to do with the worsening situation at the contact line between the parties, nor with any [form of] military persecution of the local population, as imagined by certain Greek bloggers,” it said.

“We appeal to journalists not to spread fake information, but to check and cross-check it carefully,” the statement added.

The federation went on to describe the situation in areas with significant Greek populations near the border with Russia as “calm.”

“No one is panicking,” it said.