On July 13 and 14, 2014, the Ukrainian armed formations (UAF) attempted to unblock the Luhansk Airport. The attack was directed from Slavyanoserbsk, along the western outskirts of Luhansk. During this operation, Luhansk was subjected to massive shelling, civilians were killed and injured, infrastructure facilities were damaged, civilian objects were destroyed and damaged.
On July 14, 2014, as a result of artillery shelling of the city of Luhansk, at least 8 civilians were killed and 52 civilians were injured.
This investigation will consider the shelling with the use of BM-21 Grad MLRS, which took place on July 14, 2014 at about 18:00. In the course of this incident, residential buildings were damaged in the Mirny and Gayevoy quarters. The list of the victims formed from citizens’ messages was published on the Internet. The names of civilians who were killed in this incident can be found there. This list (Fig. 1) contains the names of persons killed on July 14:
- Nikolay Bakhmach, … — 14.07.2014
- Sergey Petrovich Bober, 09.11.1958 — 14.07.2014
- Alla Logacheva, 23.06.1976 — 14.07.2014
This list does not include information about an unknown young man who was killed at the “Vtorchermet” public transport stop located to the south of the residential building at 77, Andrey Linyov St., Luhansk (according to photo/video materials).
Proceeding from the above, it can be summarized that on July 14, 2014 at about 18:00 local time, the Mirny and Gayevy residential quarters of Luhansk were fired upon using the Grad MLRS. The detonation of shells in these residential quarters resulted in deaths of at least four and injuries of dozens of civilians. The 122 mm rocket projectiles flew from north to south.
As a result of the analysis of news videos and information from the Internet, it was found that the units of the 1st Tank Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were located in the sector from which the shelling was carried out on July 14, 2021. The shelling could be carried out from positions in the vicinity of Stukalova Balka settlement.
The commander of the 1st Severia TBr, Colonel Andrey Nikolaevych Gritskov undertook the general command of this unit. Also, the commander of the 1st TBr operating platoon, Lieutenant Chepiga (first name is known) and servicemen of the 1st TBr Stanislav and Sergei (surnames are not known) could be involved in the shelling of the city of Luhansk in question directly at the positions.
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