8 civilians die in Donetsk in overnight shelling
2015-08-18
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Rebel media is denying claims made by Ukrainian media, and now by US government officials, that it was rebel artillery that struck the far southern Donetsk town of Sartana late Sunday night. Meanwhile, throughout western sectors of Donetsk, a total of eight civilians were killed in overnight shelling by both sides of this year old war, according to Russian language news accounts.
The Donetsk ministry of defense responded to a remark Monday by US State Department spokesman John Kirby, that rebel artillery killed two and wounded two in Sunday night/Monday morning's attack, saying rebel forces "do not respond to the provocations of [the Ukrainians], and fully adhere to the Minsk agreement items."
According to TASS Russian news agency, Kirby said that Ukraine has "every right to open fire," since they are doing it in self-defense.
Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin wrote Monday in his Live Journal blog that the artillery that struck Sartana was Ukrainian, saying "everybody on both sides of the line knows this."
The Ukrainians accuse rebel artillery of hitting two other locations in the Mariupol defense zone earlier on Sunday, including at Talakovke and Starognatovke.
Artillery shorts, colloquially known as "drop shorts" in British parlance, are nothing unusual in the annals of most nation's artillery shooters, and have taken place before in Mariupol. Last spring, Ukrainian media made much of an artillery attack which struck high rise residential buildings in eastern Mariupol, but subsequent videos showed that the artillery, in this case rocket artillery, had been fired from the west. In the Mariupol defense zone, most of the artillery supporting Ukrainian troops are emplaced in western and north western areas of the Mariupol defense zone.
At the moment, Ukrainian media is saying a total of six unidentified individuals were wounded in Sartana and a total of 52 residences were hit, five of them completely destroyed by direct hits in Sunday night to Monday morning attacks. Weapons that Ukrainian media alleges the rebels used include 82mm and 120mm mortars. Other localities hit included Bogdanovka, Granitnoye, Starognatovka and Chermalyk. It should be noted that if the Ukrainian claim of rebels using 82mm mortars is true, then the rebels have moved their forward zone much closer to Mariupol, within about three to four miles, or about five kilometers.
Ukrainian reports say rebel artillery struck Starognatovka twice Monday afternoon using 122mm tube artillery. A news account in korrespondent.net suggested that looting is taking place at Sartana.
Eight civilians total were killed in overnight artillery strikes on both sides of the line, according to a news account in vesti-ukr.com
The civilian dead were recorded in three main areas: western Donetsk city and suburbs, Gorlovka and in Mariupol.
In Ukrainian held Krasnogorovka near western Donetsk city, a man in his late 50s was killed by shrapnel, wounded at his residence on Ulitsa Sovkhoznaya. Ukrainian media said the artillery which struck Krasnogorovka including 120mm mortars and 122mm tube artillery. Rebel artillery have temporarily damaged gas, water and telephone service in the city, according to a separate news account in tsnesor.net
In Donetsk city proper, in Kuibyshevsky, Petrovsky and Kirovsky districts, two unidentified civilians were killed in Ukrainian artillery attacks. A total of 12 buildings were destroyed overnight including seven residences in Kuibyshevsky district alone. In Petrovksy district, five residences were destroyed. One unidentified civilian was killed. In Kirovsky district a total of 22 buildings were damaged in artillery strikes, with one unidentified civilian dead.
Rebel officials say the Ukrainian artillery firing on western Donetsk originates from Peski, Avdievka and Opytnoye. Rebel media said Ukrainian artillery struck rebel positions at the Donetsk airport, now a daily occurrence, and at nearby Spartak.
Ukrainian media said that rebel artillery on Monday struck Avdievka twice, once using 120mm mortars and the other using 122mm rocket artillery, with the target being the coke plant. An undisclosed number of residences in the town were damaged and power was knocked off line, apparently by rebel artillery.
Three unidentified civilians were killed in overnight shelling in Gorlovka with the victims' ages ranging from 47 to 79. Ukrainian shelling damaged 11 residences and a children's social center.
Ukrainian media said that a rebel artillery strike early Sunday morning on Zaitsevo killed one civilian woman. 120mm mortars were used in that attack.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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