During the summer of 2014, Donetsk was under siege. Clashes took place between the DPR militia and Ukrainian armed formations in the area of Donetsk airport.
At the turn of July-August, the UAF managed to take control of Avdeyevka and gain a foothold on the outskirts of Donetsk near the airport. However, they failed to develop the offensive further. Attempts to immediately take Yasinovataya, to begin the encirclement of Horlivka did not lead to success.
At the same time, densely populated areas of the cities of Donbass were subjected to regular artillery shelling. Thus, on August 14, 2014, the UAF exposed the city of Donetsk to dense artillery fire throughout the day. As a result of six shellings, 11 civilians were killed and at least 8 obtained injuries of varying severity. Significant damage was caused to civilian infrastructure and housing stock, material damage due to the destruction of personal belongings of the affected citizens, several trucks were damaged, in addition, the following objects were affected: Central Municipal Clinical Hospital No. 1, Green Plaza shopping and entertainment center, educational buildings of the Donetsk National Technical University, the building of the city prosecutor’s office, Yunost Palace of Youth.
This investigation will examine the shelling of the densely populated Kievskiy District of Donetsk, which occurred on August 14, 2014 at approximately 16:00 and was performed using the Grad MLRS.
During the shelling, residential buildings were damaged located at Vanda Vasilieva St., Kotsyubinskiy St., Pokryshev Lane, Lepeshinskiy Lane.
Four civilians died: Irina Nikolenko born in 1972, Vadim Nikolenko born in 1964, a woman whose identity is unknown and a minor Artur Babenko born in 1999 года рождения. The adults died on the spot, and the teenager received fragmentation wounds to both legs and chest. In the Regional Traumatological Center of Donetsk (now the Republican Traumatological Center), the boy underwent an operation, but he died the next day without regaining consciousness.
Indiscriminate shelling of a densely populated residential area inthe town of Makeyevka, in which civilians were killed and injured, is a crime for which responsibility is provided by the norms of national legislation of Ukraine and by the norms of international law.
In compliance with Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, for “… use of methods of the warfare prohibited by international instruments, or any other violations of rules of the warfare recognized by international instruments consented to be binding by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, and also giving an order to commit any such actions”, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years., and if he same acts accompanied with an intended murder, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years, or life imprisonment.
In compliance with Art. 13 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, concerning the protection of victims of armed conflicts of a non-international character, dated 8 June 1977: “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited”.
In compliance with Rule 71 of Customary International Humanitarian Law (Volume 1, ICRC, 2006): “States must never make civilians the object of attack and must consequently never use weapons that are incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets” “The use of weapons which are by nature indiscriminate is prohibited”.
In compliance with Art. 3 common to all Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, , extending its effect to non-international armed conflicts, “persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed ‘hors de combat’ by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, color, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria”.
To this end, violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds and mutilation, are prohibited inter alia with respect to the above-mentioned persons.