Fascist Shelling of Donetsk Kills and Injures Soldiers and Civilians

Heavy Shelling in Donetsk Jan. 7-9

via New Cold War

Report by the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 9 January 2015 (excerpt). This report is for media and the general public

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). The JCCC reported an increased number of ceasefire violations, the majority occurring in and around the Donetsk airport.

The SMM visited the three main hospitals in “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled Donetsk. The directors of the hospitals reported severe shortages of various drugs and fuel, although some supplies had been received from the Russian Federation. Staff, they said, had not been paid since November.

At one of the hospitals, the director said 98 patients on dialysis machines were in danger of dying if the machines were not immediately maintained. He also said that a 74 year-old man had been admitted that day, suffering from head injuries, having been hit by shrapnel outside his home on the south-western outskirts of the city in the early hours of the morning.

At the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) headquarters in government-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk), the Ukrainian Major-General, head of the Ukrainian side to the JCCC, and the Russian Federation Major-General, representative of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to the JCCC, said that the security situation in “DPR”-controlled areas had markedly deteriorated in the previous 24 hours, to an extent not seen since 15 December.

In the 24 hours preceding 08:00hrs, 9 January, they said they had recorded 91 ceasefire violations, 50 of them at the Donetsk airport. 

Among the recorded incidents during this period, they said that the use of heavy weapons was particularly pronounced, with 12 cases involving the use of BM-21 Grad rockets, 19 artillery shelling incidents, and 44 uses of mortars. Four Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and nine wounded, and two “DPR” and two “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) members killed in the violence, they said. Six civilians had also been injured on the south-western outskirts of Donetsk, they added.

In the 24 hours JCCC reporting period – the SMM heard sporadic volleys – every three to four hours – of incoming and outgoing shelling, usually 10 to 15 rounds at a time, in and around the Donetsk airport. The SMM also independently verified that a number of shells had struck a residential area in the south-western suburbs of the city.

In government-controlled Makarove (26km north-west of Luhansk), the SMM observed heavy outgoing and incoming artillery and mortar shelling, and small arms fire. A Médecins Sans Frontières aid convoy attempting to reach “LPR”-controlled Luhansk was forced to turn back as a result of the shelling. On leaving the town, the SMM saw approximately 100 Ukrainian troops with a Howitzer artillery piece moving in the direction of the town.

A representative of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation told the SMM in Dnepropetrovsk that they dispatched a humanitarian convoy of fourteen trucks to Dnepropetrovsk that morning, destined for government-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He said the convoy had been co-ordinated with the regional police in Dnepropetrovsk and the Dnepro-1 volunteer regiment. The commander of the regiment told the SMM that his regiment had checked the documents and content of the trucks before allowing them to proceed.

For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/133771

Excerpt from the SMM report of the 24 hours ending 18:00 hours, Ukraine time on Jan 8, 2015:

… At the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) HQ in government-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk), the Ukrainian Major-General, head of the Ukrainian side to the JCCC, and the Russian Federation Major-General, representative of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to the JCCC, both said the security situation, particularly in areas controlled by the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) had deteriorated considerably in the preceding 24 hours. They said that in the 24 hours preceding 08.00hrs on 8 January, there had been 66 ceasefire violations reported, 29 in government-controlled territory and 37 in “DPR”- or “LPR”- controlled territory. Eighty percent of the incidents were recorded at or in the environs of the Donetsk airport. The remainder were in government-controlled Debaltseve or in “LPR”-controlled territory.