This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
In a statement issued six days after Russia launched its assault of Ukraine, which has seen the country hit by air strikes and artillery attacks, St Petersburg-born Petrenko said the "historic and cultural ties between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, of which I am proud, can never be used to justify Russia's invasion".