What Ceasefire? Another Day Brings Yet Another Shelling Attack on Civilians in Donbass
Ukrainian Armed Forces keep shelling Donbas. This time Dokuchaevsk was the target. It was shelled from RPGs and large-caliber weapons, leaving 5 civilians wounded. The DPR authorities are sure that it's a provocative act before the visit of the deputy head of the OSCE mission to Ukraine.
Alexander Sladkov has the details.
The city of Dokuchaevsk, the Donetsk People's Republic, is regularly shelled. This time even the OSCE delegation which arrived in DPR from Ukraine, was no obstacle.
- Alexander Hug, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission's Principal Deputy Chief Monitor, arrived here and it all began, right?
- Yesterday's shelling came at the very moment he entered the city.
- Everybody is alive. Some are wounded.
- Who?
- 2 people.
- Are they at the hospital?
- The girl is at the hospital. She went to the hospital.
Victor Ivanov, resident of Dokuchaevsk:
- There was a flash, an explosion, it was very fast. I rushed in the corridor, and so did my son. About 10 minutes later we saw an ambulance near house 13. Like a devilry, you know.
- This is house 13, right?
- Yes.
5 civilians got wounded. 2 of them, a man and his wife, live in this block.
Tatyana Molochankina, resident of Dokuchaevsk: "There was an explosion. Then my neighbor knocked on my door. He was bleeding. Me and my son started to give him first aid. And his wife was wounded as well. And quite gravely. We called an ambulance. It arrived fast".
The wounded people were rescued. They were hospitalized under fire.
Resident of Dokuchaevsk, wounded: “I felt a blow at the back. I asked my husband to call an ambulance and went to the drawing room.”
Shells from an infantry fighting vehicle exploded in the streets. Many people had a narrow shave.
- The dog didn't want to go for a walk. Had we been outside, we'd have come under shelling.
- Does the shelling occur in the daylight?
- Well, it was 17:20. It isn't dark yet at this time, and I usually walk the dog.
- Here's our neighborhood, civilians live here as well as in the city center, and near the square. But it the square was shelled too.
Vyacheslav Gudkov, resident of Dokuchaevsk: "Why don't they fight with soldiers but shell us, civilians? We don't understand what for. It starts abruptly".
- Ours don't shoot. Not a single shot is heard from our side. Everything comes from the other side, from Dubki.
- Does it come from the Ukrainian side or the DPR?
Victor Ivanov, resident of Dokuchaevsk: "But the DPR is here, while Ukraine is there. So, everything comes from over there".
- Why don't you, the military, respond?
Eduard Basurin, operative command deputy commander: "We want to prove that we are a state which fulfills the obligations it assumes. We declare that we are ready for peaceful negotiations and respect the ceasefire. That's why we still hope that we will be heard and treated as equals, not feudatories".
Actually, it's hard to believe. It's a regular city with regular houses, people, children, the elderly. They work and live here. But houses 9, 11, 13, 15 in Vatutina street, Dokuchaevsk, are constantly shelled.
Alexander Sladkov, Pavel Vydrin, Igor Uklein, Andrey Rudenko, Oleg Bondarenko for Vesti from Donbas.