The Last Two Nights of Artillery Shelling in Donetsk

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

30th May, 2016

tragediadonbasu

Unlike the last few months, over the last two days Donbass, or rather two nights, came under the heavy fire of the UAF. On May 27th, Ukrainian troops were heavily shelling Donetsk and Dokuchayevsk since the early morning. In just a few minutes 23 shells were fired at Dokuchaevsk, starting a fire at the dolomite mine and technical buildings, in addition to damaging three buildings on Krepkogo Street - No. 1, 2 and 3. In turn, the result of the night shelling in Donetsk damaged house No. 12 on Tumaniana Street and Prepodavateli No. 2, 4, 7, and 9, as well as on the territory of the kindergarten. One civilian was wounded , but not seriously – the victim refused hospitalization.

Recall that in recent weeks, Ukrainian troops occupied territory in the neutral zone on the border with the city. Currently, in some places, their position is located just 2 km from the city limits – this is a gross violation of the Minsk agreements, and there are prohibited weapons, which in accordance with these agreements in general should not be there – not to mention used. Obviously, it will not cause a reaction in the Polish media.

From what I've observed on the attack on the night of 27th/28th May, the Donetsk troops were met with suppressing fire. Naturally, the Donbass Ministry failed to acknowledge that they received orders to defend – why? Because as practice shows – when Kiev starts shelling it's all fine, but as soon as Donbass uses force to stop the attack, then we are dealing with a violation of the ceasefire. Using this logic, the fault lies with the victim because he decided to defend himself.

Last night, the outskirts of Donetsk came under heavy artillery fire – or to be exact, the consequences of the bombing was felt in the Voroshilovsky district (city center). It was strong, continuing for about an hour, the artillery fire was directed at almost all the outskirts of the capital, especially on Yasinovatsky checkpoint, which for almost two months is the main purpose of the Ukrainian attacks. According to the conference by the Donetsk News Agency (DAN), 140 mortar shells of caliber 120 mm were fired, and 64 of 82 mm caliber, and  for about 1 hour during the night, about 12 shells of 152 mm caliber were fired in the direction of the checkpoint. 

The problem with DAN is that the data underestimates. And so, according to the local residents and soldiers of the DPR army, it follows that the shelling started earlier and was stronger. It was reported that the Ukrainian forces are attacking the area of Dokuchaevsk from the industrial zone in the town. Near Nikolayevka there is infantry combat, as well as fighting on the Debaltsevo – Gorlovka road; the fighting did not stop on the outskirts of Gorlovka.

Why does most of such information not appear in the official reports? I do not know.

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