"Point" of no return: dozens of civilians were killed by a Ukrainian missile in the DPR

How will the Russian military respond to the strike on Donetsk, which the Russian Defense Ministry has already called a war crime

Units of the Armed Forces of Russia and the People's Republics of Donbass continue to advance in different directions. LNR fighters are fighting in the city of Severodonetsk. The DPR troops unblocked Mariupol and began evacuating local residents. On March 14, the Ukrainian military fired at the center of Donetsk from the Tochka-U tactical missile system. At least 20 residents of the city were killed, dozens were injured. In response, the Russian military promised to strike at the enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. Tuesday, March 15, was declared a day of mourning in the DPR.

The offensive continues

By March 14, Russian units reached the Vodiane–Sweet–Steppe–Taramchuk–Slavnoye line. By the end of the day, the settlement of Stepnoye came under Russian control, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported.

A group of troops of the Luhansk People's Republic is fighting in the north-eastern districts of Severodonetsk, the department said. Earlier, this important node of the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was blocked from the eastern and southern directions.

— During the night of March 14, four Ukrainian drones were shot down by aviation and air defense of the Russian Aerospace Forces, including one Bayraktar TB-2," said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov. - Operational-tactical, army and unmanned aircraft hit 187 AFU facilities, including: two control points, one Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system, one guidance and target designation radar station, two multiple rocket launchers, two electronic warfare stations, two ammunition and fuel depots, 31 places of accumulation of combat technicians.

Destroyed Ukrainian tank

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Kudenko

According to the Russian military department, during the day on March 14, the VKS air defense systems shot down two more UAVs, one of which was Bayraktar. Planes, helicopters and drones hit 86 objects of the Armed Forces, including four control points and communication centers, three air defense systems, a radar station, three ammunition depots and fuel, as well as 68 places of accumulation of military equipment.

In addition, the Russian Armed Forces struck on Monday with high-precision long-range weapons at military infrastructure facilities. As a result, communication, relay and switching nodes were disabled in the settlements of Fedorovka, Vinarovka and Antopol, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported. And on the territory of the Antonov plant near Kiev, a large MLRS ammunition depot was destroyed.

The Russian Defense Ministry also warned that the locations of foreign mercenaries arriving in Ukraine will be attacked with precision weapons. All such places are known to the Russian military.

On March 14, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov presented medals "For Bravery" to 11 servicemen who were injured. The Ministry of Defense noted that doctors are taking all necessary measures for the speedy recovery of soldiers and officers. Currently, about 1.4 thousand servicemen have been discharged and sent for rehabilitation. All of them expressed a desire to return to their units after a full recovery.

Hitting people

On the morning of March 14, a rocket attack was launched from the territory controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a residential quarter in the center of Donetsk. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as a result of the detonation of the cluster warhead of the tactical missile "Tochka-U", 20 people were killed, more than 30 were injured, including children.

The Investigative Committee of Russia cited data on at least 23 dead as a result of the shelling. The department opened a criminal case under the article "The use of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty of the Russian Federation in an armed conflict."

The Russian Defense Ministry clarified that the shelling of the city was carried out from the north-western direction — from the area of the city of Krasnoarmeysk, where Ukrainian formations are stationed.

- The use of such weapons in a city where there are no firing positions of the armed forces, that is, obviously against the civilian population, is a war crime, - said Igor Konashenkov. - The equipment of the tactical missile "Tochka-U" with cluster ammunition proves that the purpose of the nationalists' strike on the city was to kill as many civilians as possible.

The representative of the Ministry of Defense drew attention to the fact that the decision to use this type of missile weapons is made at least by the command of the Ukrainian group of troops - after approval by the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kiev.

Alexander Dyukov, director of the Historical Memory Foundation, believes that the decision on the use of a tactical missile system could have been made without coordination with the command in Kiev — there have already been such cases.

- This is a conscious strategy of the armed forces of Ukraine, which has been implemented for a long time— - he told Izvestia. — I'm not sure that the decision to use this type of weapon was made in Kiev. We have already seen the use of such weapons in 2014 and 2015. Most likely, decisions are made at the command level of the Ukrainian joint forces operation. But because of this, such actions do not cease to be crimes, and the Kiev regime does not cease to be responsible for the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

There is no military sense in such attacks, the expert added: such actions are of a terrorizing nature and are aimed at intimidating the local population.

— There is no doubt that there are no military objectives here and there cannot be. Therefore, such actions are clearly a violation of international law, war crimes," Alexander Dyukov said. — I would like to draw your attention to the fact that according to the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the civilian population is considered protected categories. And this strike was obviously aimed at the civilian population. The Geneva Conventions note that strikes of an indiscriminate nature are unacceptable. Can such actions of the Ukrainian side be considered something new? Unfortunately, no. Strikes against the civilian population were carried out both during the current escalation and earlier, especially actively in 2014-2015.

The expert did not rule out that despite the fact that the Tochka-U missile systems have been removed from service in the Russian Armed Forces for many years, the Ukrainian authorities will accuse the Russian military of firing.

- "Dot-U" is not a weapon that can be extracted from some cache. Only the state can use it. And if the "Dot-Y" is used, in fact there is a painting: "We did it." Will they publicly deny their involvement? We know that the Ukrainian side permanently denies obvious things, especially those that relate to the crimes they commit. So I can't rule out that they will deny even such an obvious case," concluded Alexander Dyukov.

Later, the Russian Defense Ministry said that in response to the use of the most destructive types of weapons against civilians and civilian structures, the Russian Armed Forces "will take prompt measures to disable the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine engaged in the production, repair and restoration of weapons that nationalists use to commit war crimes."

— We call on the citizens of Ukraine working at these enterprises, as well as residents of nearby residential buildings to leave potentially dangerous zones, - Igor Konashenkov stressed.

They will not escape punishment

In the DPR, March 15 was declared a day of mourning for those killed in the shelling of Donetsk by "Dot-U".

- Today (March 14. - "Izvestia") The Ukrainian Nazis committed a monstrous terrorist attack against the civilians of Donbass - they used a Tochka-U missile system with a cluster-type charge in the center of Donetsk. And if the missile could not be destroyed in the air, there would be disproportionately more victims—" said Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR.

According to him, the strike was specially inflicted during the daytime, when there are a lot of people on the street, transport is actively moving, banks and shops are working. The rocket carried cluster munitions, some of them worked, the head of the DPR noted.

According to him, the DPR has information that allows to accurately identify those involved in the murder of civilians: the numbers of the "Dot-U" are fixed. The head of the People's Republic promised that the perpetrators would not escape punishment. A little later, the official representative of the People's Militia of the DPR, Colonel Eduard Basurin, said that the nationalists of the 19th rocket Brigade had fired on the city.

Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR and citizens in the center of Donetsk

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Kudenko

- The offensive operation will be continued and accelerated at some points. Our duty is to drive away all multiple launch rocket systems and artillery as far as possible so that they cannot physically reach our settlements," Denis Pushilin stressed.

He recalled that the DPR forces have already shot down more than 15 "Dots-U". In 2014-2015, the AFU also used these missiles against the People's republics, but did not equip them with cluster-type warheads, Pushilin added.

The humanitarian corridor was pierced with a fight

In Mariupol, on March 14, units of the People's Militia of the DPR, with the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, carried out an operation to unblock the city, said the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev. In the course of it, almost all firing points equipped with neo-Nazis in suburban areas were pointwise destroyed. In maneuver battles, the main forces of the militants were eliminated in positions in residential areas around the perimeter of the city.

- A successful operation to unblock the city allowed today (March 14. - "Izvestia") from 15 o'clock to open humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians and begin mass evacuation of the population, which has been held hostage by neo-Nazis for a long time, - Mikhail Mizintsev said.

According to him, car convoys with humanitarian cargo were immediately formed and sent to the city. The first of them delivered 450 tons of medicines, basic necessities and food. Four columns of 200 buses have been formed for Mariupol residents.

— All the injured and willing residents of Mariupol will be taken to temporary accommodation facilities, where all conditions for comfortable living are created for them, - said Mikhail Mizintsev.

The imposed "silence regimes" by the Russian Armed Forces are strictly observed, the general noted. Every day, for the 11th day in a row, from 10 o'clock in the morning, the Russian side opens humanitarian corridors in the Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv directions. They provide for the exit of residents both to Russia and to the territories controlled by Kiev, Mikhail Mizintsev recalled.

According to the general, out of 10 routes for March 14, the Ukrainian authorities have agreed only three. At the same time, they did not approve even one corridor towards Russia, he noted.

In turn, the Russian side, the general noted, agreed to the 11 additional humanitarian corridors proposed by Kiev in the Kiev, Zaporozhye, Mariupol, Lugansk and Donetsk directions.

Humanitarian column of the Red Cross

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti

According to the general, in Zaporozhye, the militants, having seized financial institutions, are checking depositors' bank accounts. Citizens with significant savings are abducted and money is taken away. At roadblocks, radicals detain and beat people, extort the last valuables for leaving the city. In Kharkiv, Odessa and Mykolaiv, members of nationalist formations, under threat of reprisals, force men from 18 to 60 years old to enroll in the battalions of the defense Ministry.

According to Mikhail Mizintsev, Ukrainian neo-Nazi units continue to use the "silence mode" to regroup, restore combat capability, while hiding behind a human shield of civilians.

Mikhail Mizintsev said that in a situation of humanitarian crisis, most of the residents used as human shields are looking for protection in Russia, and not in the West — this is confirmed by citizens' appeals for help to the Russian side.

As of March 14, more than 2 million 665 thousand 822 Ukrainians from almost 2 thousand cities and villages expressed a desire to evacuate to Russia and Belarus, he said.

Since the beginning of the special military operation without the participation of official Kiev, 248 thousand 993 people have been evacuated to Russia from dangerous areas of Ukraine, as well as the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, 54 thousand 481 of them children.

- 6,972 citizens from 22 foreign countries, as well as the crews of more than 50 foreign vessels blocked in the seaports of Ukraine, continue to be held hostage by the militants of the territorial defense battalions, - he recalled.

The flow of refugees on the western border of Ukraine continues to grow. People under pressure from the Kiev authorities are forced to leave for Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, the general noted.

- Thousands of cars have accumulated in traffic jams for tens of kilometers, there is pandemonium and crush at pedestrian crossings— - Mikhail Mizintsev said. - Some Ukrainians stand in line for two or three days, while at the checkpoints there are no places of rest, food and medical care are not organized.

At the same time, Mikhail Mizintsev noted, the Russian side has already delivered 2,165 tons of humanitarian cargo to the settlements of Kiev, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Kherson regions, as well as Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics.

Roman Kretsul, Bogdan Stepovoy