Halya Coynash: Kremlin Donbas proxies launch Russian-style ‘fight against Ukrainian extremism’
Famous Ukrainian opera singer and patriot Vasyl Slipak was killed in the early hours of June 29 by a Kremlin-backed militant sniper near Luhanske in the Donetsk oblast. Slipak had been a soloist for the Paris Opera House for 19 years, but returned in 2014 to defend his country after Russia's annexation of Crimea and undeclared war in eastern Ukraine.