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 3, 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, as of February 1, 2023, more than 40% of the territory of the DPR was still controlled by the Ukrainian security forces.
Fierce battles were fought in the Donetsk front area, and Russian troops conducted numerous offensive operations. Ukrainian armed formations, in turn, actively used artillery in their defense. Among other things, fire was directed at densely populated residential areas of Donbass cities. Mass gathering locations, civil infrastructure facilities, transport and trade hubs sustained artillery shelling.
Since the beginning of 2023, the UAF continued to strike almost daily on the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic, including its central districts, using various weapons. One of the most massive shelling in terms of damage was carried out from the Grad MLRS.
Thus, on January 10, 2023, UAF fired rockets at the Leninskiy and Kuibyshevskiy districts of Donetsk, which resulted in a civilian’s injury, damage to school No. 66 in Donetsk and private residential buildings; moreover, ten transformer substations were de-energized.
On February 4, 2023, the Kyivskiy district of Donetsk came under fire from the UAF, as a result of which three civilians were killed, another was injured, multi-apartment residential buildings, Donetsk kindergarten No. 197, a gas station and a dental clinic were damaged.
Closer to mid-April, UAF attacks on civilians increased significantly. Thus, according to the office of the Human-Rights Ombudsman in the DPR, in the period from March 31, 2023 to April 06, 2023, 11 wounded and five killed civilians were recorded, and in the period from April 07, 2023 to April 14, 2023, this number increased to 46 wounded and five killed civilians.
Intensified artillery shelling during the holidays has also become a tragic regularity. The night of Orthodox Easter was no exception.
On April 16, 2023, at approximately 3:25 Moscow time the center of Donetsk in the vicinity of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral and the Kryty Rynok market sustained MLRS artillery shelling. As a result of the incident, one female civilian born in 1966 was killed, 7 civilians received injuries of varying severity: men born in 1961, 1965 and 2002, and women born in 1953, 1967, 1947 and 1945.
As follows from the above, on April 16, 2023, at about 03:25 a.m. (MSK) the Voroshilovskiy district of Donetsk came under artillery fire from a Grad multiple launch rocket system. At least 19 rocket projectiles were fired that flew in the direction from north-west to south-east (azimuth 283 degrees). The shelling was carried out using 122-mm M-21OF high-explosive fragmentation projectiles.
The units of the 56th Motorized Brigade under the command of Colonel Serhiy Sirchenko or Colonel Dmytro Gerasimenko could be in the disposition of the shelling sector. The latter are responsible for the actions of their subordinates.
Moreover, the highest military-political leadership of Ukraine is responsible for crimes committed during this armed conflict. Namely: President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelensky and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyy.