Shelling of Donetsk, Rostov Oblast

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Shelling of Donetsk, Russia
Part of Spillover of the War in Donbas
Rostov in Russia.svg
Location of Rostov Oblast in Russia
Outline Map of Rostov Oblast.svg
Location of Donetsk in Rostov Oblast
Location Donetsk
WeaponsShelling
Deaths1 civilian
Injured2 injured
Perpetrators

On 13 July 2014, mortar shells fired from Ukrainian territory landed in the courtyard of a private home in the border town of Donetsk. [1] The shelling killed one civilian and injured two others. [2]

Contents

Background

Pro-Russian protests began in the neighboring Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine in February 2014 and eventually escalated into an armed insurgency by April. The Ukrainian government launched counterattacks, and by July 2014, had retaken significant territory from the pro-Russian rebels. [3] [4]

On Friday, 11 July, two days before the shelling, 36–37 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Grad rocket bombardment. [5] [6] In response, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that for "every soldier's life, the militants will pay with dozens and hundreds of their own." [1]

Shelling

Up to six mortar shells exploded on Sunday, 13 July, in Donetsk, Russia, a town of 50,000 that shares the same name as the much larger Ukrainian city and is just 1 km away from the Ukraine-Russia border. The mortar shells landed in the courtyard of a private home, killing a 46-year-old man, while injuring two others. [2]

According to local officials, the shells were fired from Ukrainian territory. [7] Russian officials said that the border towns near Ukraine, which Ukraine claimed were being used by rebels, were hit in the past by Ukrainian fire. [8] A local government official said that the shelling happened around 9:20 AM. [9]

According to the daughter of the man who was killed in the shelling, she "woke up in the middle of the night" (thus contradicting the earlier report of attack happening at 9:20 AM) and heard her younger brother scream, then she ran out of the house, and heard her father scream. After that, she and her brother went to the porch and found her father, who was killed, missing an arm.[ citation needed ]

Ukraine denied responsibility for the shelling, claiming it was a false flag attack by pro-Russian militants. The Ukrainian National Guard said it was never deployed in the region in which the shelling occurred.

Aftermath

The incident increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Russia vowing a "response". Russia said it would be considering "surgical strikes" to target Ukrainian military positions near the border, but that there would not be a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. [10]

Russia has asked military attaches from eighteen countries including the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States – to visit the scene of the shelling. [11]

Military attaches from eleven member-states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and foreign journalists have inspected the areas that came under fire from Ukraine's territory. Germany's military attache, Brigadier General Reiner Schwalb stated "Russia does not conceal the events. Our task is to understand the situation,". [12]

Response

States

Disputed entities

See also

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References

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  5. Цензор.НЕТ. "11 ИЮЛЯ 2014 ГОДА. ВООРУЖЕННЫЕ СИЛЫ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ УНИЧТОЖИЛИ ЛАГЕРЬ УКРАИНСКИХ ВОЙСК ПОД ЗЕЛЕНОПОЛЬЕМ". Цензор.НЕТ (in Russian). Retrieved 24 January 2017.
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  11. "Russia asks envoys to visit town it says was hit by Ukraine shelling". The Globe and Mail. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
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