NEW YORK
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday voiced concerns about reports of the recent killings of allies of Ukraine's pro-Russian former president.
The statement issued from a UN spokesperson's office mentioned the deaths of opposition politician Oleh Kalashnikov, who was reportedly found dead Wednesday in Kiev with gunshot wounds, and journalist Oles Buzina, reportedly gunned down the following day.
Both men were considered allies of Victor Yanukovych, who was toppled last February following violent anti-government protests in the Ukrainian capital.
Ban welcomed President Petro Poroshenko's call for a swift investigation into both killings, and urged "all other such crimes be urgently investigated."
"This will be critical in order to ensure the rule of law and the need to bring the perpetrators to justice," he said.
Following Buzina's death, Poroshenko called the murders "a deliberate provocation that plays in favor of our enemies."
Yanukovych's overthrow led to massive protests in ethnic Russian-majority parts of the country, including Crimea, which was formally annexed by Moscow after a disputed March 2014 self-rule referendum.
After the annexation, pro-Russia separatists captured parts of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.
Since then, more than 6,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and separatists, according to the UN.
