Russian Amb. Summoned Over Swedish National Killed in Ukraine

The Swedish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian Ambassador over his comments about the death of a Swedish national in Ukraine, TASS reported on Monday.

"We can confirm that the Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador, but we cannot comment on the details on the conversation," the embassy said.

Viktor Tatarintsev claimed that the Swedish media tried to promote the man's image, according to reports. The 28-year-old national, who served in the Kingdom's Air Force in Uppsala, had been killed near Kharkov.

The Russian embassy in Stockholm stated that the fact that he, as a foreign national, joined "the army that has been fighting against civilians for eight years" makes him a "criminal under international law".

Moscow warned that Swedish citizens who remain in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces "are very likely to face trial in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which will not hesitate to sentence all mercenaries to long prison terms or even capital punishment".

A week ago, two Americans, a Canadian, and Swede were killed in Russian tank attacks in Donbas.

Ruslan Miroshnichenko, the commander in question, said the men were part of special forces within the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He said: “The guys were tasked to take their firing positions” and clear a ravine where Russian forces were working to cross a river.

“They did it successfully. But at the end of the mission they were ambushed by Russian tanks,” Miroshnichenko mentioned. “The first shell injured Luke. Three guys, Edward, Emile, and Bryan, immediately attempted to help Luke do first aid and evacuate him from this spot. Then the second shell killed them all.”