Russian authorities said on Monday (March 14) that 23 people were killed by a Ukrainian rocket in the pro-Russian breakaway city of Donetsk, accusing Kyiv of a “war crime.”
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According to a statement by Russia’s influential Investigative Committee, “at least 23 civilians (…), including children, were killed and at least 18 people were injured.” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported the death of “20 civilians”, adding that “28 people, including children, were seriously injured and hospitalized.”
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“War Crime”
According to Igor Konashenkov, the Ukrainian army fired a Tochka-U missile at a residential area in Donetsk, a large industrial city and self-proclaimed “capital” of the pro-Russian separatist territory of the same name. “The use of this type of weapon against a city where there are no firing positions of the armed forces (…) is a war crime,” Igor Konashenkov said in a press release. The Ukrainian army categorically denies the launch of a missile in Donetsk. “This is definitely a Russian missile or some other type of ammunition,” Leonid Matyukin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, said at a briefing.
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The previous report, presented this morning by the local “ministry” of health, reported 16 dead and 23 injured. No balance sheet can be verified by AFP from an independent source. In its Telegram account, the territorial defense of Donetsk published photographs in which several bloody bodies lie on the street among the rubble. A minibus with broken windows is also visible. The same source said that the victims were killed by shrapnel from a Ukrainian Tochka missile intercepted by separatist air defenses.
Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin told Russian television that it was a missile with submunitions banned in more than 100 countries, but not in Russia or Ukraine. “If (the missile) had not been shot down, there would have been even more victims,” said Denis Pushilin. According to him, the victims were waiting at the bus stop, while others were waiting in front of the ATM. Russian television showed footage of a badly damaged orange bus and several burning cars.
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Donetsk separatists, militarily backed by Moscow, have been at war with Kiev since 2014, and their troops are currently taking part in a military offensive in Ukraine. The center of Donetsk has largely escaped the fighting, especially since the outbreak of the conflict on 24 February.