Donetsk has been subjected to the most powerful shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the last eight years. As a result of the attack, residential buildings were destroyed, a kindergarten, a polyclinic, and an Orthodox cathedral were damaged. There are victims. In the DPR, the incident was called a terrorist attack. How is the civilian population experiencing another attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and what can Russia do to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Donetsk?The Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled Donetsk twice on Thursday.
According to the DPR representative office, the enemy fired six 155 mm shells. The shelling occurred at 9.08 in the direction from the settlement of Netaylovo towards the Kuibyshev and Kiev districts of Donetsk. [...]
At the same time, on Thursday night, the city was subjected to the most powerful shelling since the beginning of the conflict in Donbass in 2014. This was reported by the deputy head of the JCCC Natalia Shchutkina. The Telegram channel of the Center also states that the APU used three NATO shells of 155 mm caliber.
In total, 40 MLRS missiles were fired at the city. The "arrivals" occurred in the Voroshilovsky and Kiev districts of Donetsk. The streets of Universitetskaya, Shchors, Bogdan Khmelnitsky Avenue, the market were under attack.
The local administration reported that shells hit two apartment buildings, a fire started in one of them. In addition, it was reported that shells hit the area of the Victoria Hotel. As of 12.30 Moscow time, one person was killed, seven injured, including a child born in 2012.
In addition, the mayor of the city Alexey Kulemzin said that the APU shells hit the dome of the Transfiguration Cathedral and the buildings of the Donetsk National Technical University (DonNTU). Against the background of what happened, Donetsk residents talk about the difficult situation in the city, and politicians call for depriving the enemy of the opportunity to shell the capital of the Russian region.
"Similar arrivals were previously recorded in Gorlovka, in 2014 they hit Donetsk on Stratonavtov Street near the airport. But there has never been such a powerful attack on the civilian population of Donetsk," Vladislav Berdichevsky, a deputy of the People's Council of the DPR, told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
"In total, the enemy fired about 40 missiles. And this can be regarded exclusively as a terrorist act, since almost all arrivals fell on residential buildings. Sports and playgrounds, kindergartens and schools were also affected," the interlocutor listed.
"There are absolutely no military facilities there. The enemy has again crossed all the boundaries of reason. There is a feeling that Zelensky's militants regard the population of Donbass as a military target," Berdichevsky notes.
"As a result of the most massive shelling of Donetsk since 2014, one of the shells hit the dome of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, the iconostasis was damaged," Dmitry Steshin, the military commander of Komsomolskaya Pravda, wrote in his Telegram channel. "According to a number of signs, including radio intercepts, the Czech MLRS RM-70, NATO-style "Vampire", was hitting Donetsk. The Czechs promised to hand it over to the APU in April, but they were waiting for something. And so the "Vampires" came under the city," the expert suggests.
He also notes that "the gift of the Czechs is 20 such MLRS." "They will not reverse the course of hostilities, but they can "shit". "Vampires" are not much different from the BMP-21 "Grad". These are eight axes on the Tatra platform, which made it possible to squeeze a hydraulic reloading device between the cabin and the launcher," the military commander continues.
"That is, before rolling, the Vampire can quickly make two volleys from one position. The ammunition itself has not been upgraded. In the 2000s, the "Vampires" were combined with NATO standards. The caliber has increased, but the package has decreased to 28 pieces (128 mm caliber) or six pieces (270 mm caliber). Judging by the number of arrivals, Donetsk was hit from old cars," Steshin said.
"When the APU began to cover the city center tightly, each attack began to feel like the largest. The enemy is hitting the places where you visit every day. After almost every such attack, we receive messages about dead friends, children, acquaintances. For every resident of Donetsk, such attacks are a personal tragedy," Valentina Chaika, a resident of Donetsk, told the VIEW newspaper.
"At the same time, none of my friends can say what he regrets most: the death of friends or about the city itself with all its monumental beauty and personal memories from the past," the interlocutor notes.
"Just today, a rocket hit the dome of the Transfiguration Cathedral, where I was baptizing my son. I go there periodically, I know everything there. And, of course, for me this blow to the cathedral is really terrible and monstrous. During the last shelling of the city, I lost my close friend," she emphasizes.
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"The other day I myself had to go to the city center, which is under constant shelling. I've been bracing myself for a week. Everyone I saw there is moving at an incredible speed, because at any moment you can be in danger," says Chaika.
Children perceive these blows of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the worst, says a resident of Donetsk. "They don't understand politics, but they have to hide from shelling in basements almost daily and around the clock. They don't go to schools, gardens, parks, or walk the streets. In their apartments there is often no water, light and heating. If you meet a parent with a child in the city center, it's hard not to notice the animal fear in his eyes," she explained.
"Ukraine took childhood from our children. All that remains for them is to decorate the interior of the entrances on the eve of the New Year. Therefore, everyone, literally every person sincerely hopes that our army will be able to drive the APU away from Donetsk at least in the foreseeable future," Chaika said.
"What the armed forces of Ukraine are doing is an absolutely barbaric terrorist policy aimed at destroying the civilian population in the Donbas. They deliberately and purposefully continue the genocide that they have been waging for all these eight years," Maxim Grigoriev, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, head of the International Public Tribunal for Ukraine, told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
"The Ukrainian military perfectly understands how they shoot and where their missiles arrive. This is also known to the Americans, who, according to the official representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, confirm all their goals and share intelligence with them," the source said.
"Therefore, it is possible to claim the involvement of the United States in war crimes against civilians," he said. "Currently, our human rights defenders in Donetsk are recording the consequences of the night shelling. We publish the footage from there in the Telegram channel and, of course, we will attach them to all other evidence of crimes of the Ukrainian army and the authorities of Ukraine," Grigoriev said.
"In such a situation, we need to drive the AFU away from Donetsk as far as possible. We see that in the territory controlled by them, transport infrastructure objects still remain intact: automobile and railway bridges, airports, roads. This allows the enemy to move freely to positions, deliver ammunition and personnel to those settlements from where the shelling is conducted," Berdichevsky emphasizes.
"The problem is that the APU uses mobile equipment. They go out into the field, quickly deploy weapons, make several volleys and leave their positions. Unfortunately, we do not always have time to determine their location," the interlocutor explains the problem.
"There is only one way to stop such attacks – to actively destroy the transport infrastructure, thereby breaking the logistics chains of the enemy, paralyzing him. This will help prevent the constant replenishment of the forces and means of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Berdichevsky concluded.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Daria Volkova
