You're reading: Tymoshenko: Putin is personally responsible for crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he is personally responsible for the death of deputy of Horlivka Town Council, Volodymyr Rybak.

The body of a man later identified as Volodymyr Rybak, a
deputy of the Horlivka Town Council, was found in Sloviansk on April
19.

“The death was caused […] by a combination of bodily injuries caused
by torture and subsequent drowning of the live victims, who were
unconscious,” the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported.

“A true patriot of Ukraine, our friend, a local councilman from our
party Batkivschyna, Volodymyr Rybak, was tortured to death in Horlivka
by members of the Russian special forces. He, like many others, was
killed. I will not stop until the killers are brought to justice. I
believe that Vladimir Putin, who is waging an undeclared war against
Ukraine, is personally responsible for this situation,” reads a letter
of Tymoshenko addressed to Putin, posted on her official Web site.

She directly appealed to the Russian president: “Our struggle is not a
struggle with the people of Russia. We are fighting against your
imperial ambitions. War, imposed on Ukraine will be the end of your
regime. Do not doubt that we will win, and your henchmen will answer for
all their crimes. Ukraine will be united and peaceful.”

The Security Service of Ukraine says it has established the
involvement in Rybak’s killing of a criminal group headed by a Russian
citizen – riot police officer of the Main Intelligence Department of the
General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Strelkov (actual surname
Girkin).