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 households; 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.
On February 19, 2023, at 15:10 and 15:12 Moscow time, the UAF conducted a massive shelling of the Voroshilovskiy district of Donetsk, as a result of which a woman born in 1938 was killed and 12 people received injuries of varying severity:
— in the vicinity of the Kryty Rynok bus station, a girl born in 2014 and a teenage boy born in 2005 were injured;
— in Vatutina Ave., a man born in 1964 was injured;
— in Bohdana Khmelnytskogo Ave., women born in 1979 and 1959 were injured;
— in Chelyuskintsev Str., men born in 1962 and 1971 were injured;
— in 3A, Generala Antonova Str., a woman born in 1959 was injured;
— in 151, 50 years of the USSR Str., a man born in 1959 was injured;
— in 6, Lyubavina Str., a man born in 1979 and a woman born in 1987 were injured;
— in 1, Sobornaya Str., a man born in 1980 was injured.
As follows from the above, on February 19, 2023, at about 15:10 a.m. (MSK) the Voroshilovskiy district of Donetsk came under artillery fire from a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system. At least 38 rocket projectiles flew in the direction from north-west to south-east (azimuth 316 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 Syrchenko 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.