On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a military operation in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal “to protect people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years”. According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, as of July 03, through the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the LPR and the DPR, the entire territory of the LPR was liberated, which was one of the primary tasks of the SMO. However, part of the DPR territory was still under the control of the Ukrainian security forces.
In July 2022, DPR units carried out offensive operations against Ukrainian positions, with fire support from the Russian Army, in the vicinity of Donetsk with varying degrees of success. The battles took place against the backdrop of incessant artillery duels. The city itself was under fire from Ukrainian armed forces for many days.
Thus, from the early morning of July 5, 2022, a chaotic shelling of Donetsk began using rifled artillery of various calibers. At about 15:30, the city was subjected to another wave of artillery shelling, 15 shells exploded in the Kuibyshevskiy, Voroshilovskiy and Kievskiy districts of Donetsk.
The Voroshilovskiy district sustained shelling by 152-mm rifled artillery. The shells hit the private sector in Chelyuskintsev Street, damaged residential buildings and killed, tearing apart a 10-year-old girl Veronika Badina.
Fig. 1 — Veronika Badina.
As a result of the investigation, it was established, on July 5, 2022, at approximately 15:30 (Moscow time), the Voroshilovskiy district of Donetsk came under artillery fire using 155-mm rifled artillery ammunition. Two 152-mm shells were fired, which exploded in a private sector in Chelyuskintsev Street. As a result of this incident, residential buildings were damaged and a 10-year-old girl, Veronika Badina, was killed.
ZOF45 shells were used to attack civilian targets. The shells flew in a direction from north-west to south-east (azimuth 313 degrees). That part of the shelling sector, in which large-caliber artillery could be located, was completely controlled by the UAF.
In the sector there were artillery positions of the 56th IMBr of the UGF, which is armed with guns capable of firing ZOF45 shells.
The commander of the UAF 56th IMBr, colonel Sergey Anatolievich Sirchenko, is primarily responsible for the illegal actions of his subordinates. Colonel Dmitry Dmitrievich Gerasimenko may also be involved. Moreover, the highest military-political leadership of Ukraine is responsible for crimes committed during this armed conflict. Namely, they are President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Zelensky, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky and head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Andrey Budanov.
Download the full version of the investigation (rus)
Download the full version of the investigation (en)