At least seven civillians were killed and more wounded when mortars hit a bus stop in Donetsk around 8:30 a.m. of Jan. 22. Some reports says as many as 13 people were killed.
The mortars killed the people inside a public trolleybus whose driver was picking up passengers at the stop. The driver of a passing car was also killed.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe confirmed seeing seven bodies, while prosecutors said the death toll may be 13. The Kremlin-backed separatists who control Donetsk say that 13 people were wounded.
Editor’s Note: Graphic video content
The aftermath of a mortar attack that killed at least seven people in Donetsk on Jan. 22.
The eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk has been the main stronghold of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.
The separatists blamed Ukrainian army for the attack, while prosecutors accused separatists of intentionally shooting the mortars at the civilians.
Citing witnesses, prosecutors said a mortar vehicle was spotted in Donetsk and was shooting in the direction of Leninsky district, where the bus stop attack took place. Prosecutors say the separatists knew that no Ukrainian forces were in the area and deliberately aimed the attack at civilians.
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The aftermath of a mortar attack that killed at least seven people in Donetsk on Jan. 22.
The Kremlin-backed separatists blame a group of Ukrainian”diversionists” for firing the mortar from within the city.
The attacked bus stop is some 20 kilometers away from the Donetsk Airport, where Ukrainian government forces have been fighting the separatists. On the night before, Ukrainian forces retreated from the building of the airport and 17 soldiers were taken prisoner by the separatists.
On Jan. 22 the captive soldiers were paraded near the bus stop. One of the captives was brought to the bus stop soon after the attack to face a group of raging civilians. They beat and insulted the captive, while he kept silence.
A video from the scene shows that the militants who delivered the Ukrainian captives to the bus stop drove a car with a Russian license plate.
The aftermath of a mortar attack that killed at least seven people in Donetsk on Jan. 22.
The murders in Donetsk mirror a similar attack on Jan. 13, when a Grad missile fired by Kremlin-backed separatists struck a minibus in Volnovakha in Donetsk Oblast, killing 13 civilians.
Kyiv Post editor Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected]
