You're reading: Foreign Ministry: Kyiv hopes for fair probe into death of Moldovan citizen in Transdniestrian ‘security zone’

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed regret at the incident that happened in the security zone of the Transdniestrian region in Moldova on January 1, 2012, in which Moldovan citizen Vadim Pisar died.

"The Ukrainian side hopes for an objective and impartial investigation into this incident," the ministry’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.

The ministry said that the Ukrainian side wanted all of the parties concerned to draw proper conclusions and take all of the necessary measures to prevent similar cases in future.

"The Ukrainian side confirms its readiness to actively participate in discussions concerning the demilitarization of the region and the respective transformation of the current peacekeeping operation on the Dniester River into an OSCE-led peace-guaranteeing [operation] in the context of settling the Transdniestrian conflict," the ministry reported.

Reports said earlier that a Russian peacekeeper fatally wounded a local resident in the security zone of the Transdniestrian region early on January 1. The incident occurred at Checkpoint 9 on the bridge across the Dniester River between the Transdniestrian village of Pyryta and the Moldovan town of Vadul-luy-Vode.

Resident of Pyryta, Vadim Pisar, 19, who was traveling in a car, disregarded the peacekeepers’ order to stop, rammed the boom barrier and smashed the halt sign at the checkpoint. The chief of the peacekeepers’ force fired warning bursts and then opened fire on the car, seriously wounding Pisar. The wounded village resident was rushed to a hospital, but he died soon after a surgery was performed on his spine. Moldova’s prosecutors started a probe into the incident.