Shelling of Donetsk by the AFU – A bloody Sunday

On January 21, 2024 around 10 a.m., the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) shelled a crowded market in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk for almost half an hour with heavy artillery. At the time of writing these lines there are 27 dead and 25 wounded among civilians, including two teenagers.

This Sunday morning, residents of the Textilshchik microdistrict (Kirovsky district, south-west of Donetsk) are taking advantage of their day off to go shopping in the huge market along Petrovskovo Street. Others, mainly elderly people, have set up small stalls in front of the supermarket to sell who honey, who vegetables, in order to make a little money. It’s sunny this morning, it’s not snowing, and the temperatures are not too cold. The perfect weather for as many people as possible to be in the market area. The perfect weather and the perfect time to do a blood bath.

At 10 a.m. the shelling of the Kirovsky district of Donetsk by the AFU begins, with three artillery shells of 155 mm caliber, NATO standard. Then the Ukrainian army fires again at 10:05 a.m., 10:10 a.m., and 10:20 a.m. The shells fall on the market, the supermarket and the surrounding houses. Very quickly the reports indicate 12 deaths among civilians.

As you can see on this video there are only civilians in this Donetsk market hit by the shells that NATO provided to the AFU.

But very quickly the authorities and the journalists present on the spot realize that there are much more than 12 dead. The death toll rises to 13, then 18, but very quickly it rises above 20, to finally reach the figure of 27 dead and 25 wounded among civilians, including two teenagers.

This market is nothing military, it is a simple market where people can buy food, clothes, household appliances, and other products or goods that they need daily. It was also a place where many pensioners sold vegetables, fruits, flowers, honey and other products to make a little money. Many of these pensioners were killed sitting behind their stand, during the shelling of the Ukrainian army. There are bodies and blood everywhere. A real vision of horror reminiscent of that of March 14, 2022, when the AFU fired a Tochka-U cluster munition missile at the center of Donetsk.

See the report by the journalist Patrick Lancaster who visited the site (warning shocking images) :

By targeting this market, which is one of the largest in Donetsk, on a Sunday morning, the AFU knew that there would be a maximum of civilians there, and that their shelling would therefore cause a real bloodbath. So we can clearly describe this shelling as a terrorist attack, and a war crime. One can only speculate about the reasons that prompted the AFU to carry out such a criminal shelling against Donetsk civilians. The most obvious seems to be a desire to take revenge on civilians for the inexorable advance of the Russian army in several places on the front line. As if such a terrorist attack could restore the media image of a Ukrainian army that is retreating in several places of the front.

That same Sunday, the AFU also shelled the Kuybyshevsky district of Donetsk and several districts of Gorlovka, killing another civilian and wounding five others. The total toll of this bloody Sunday is therefore at the time I am writing these lines of 28 DPR civilians killed and 30 wounded by shelling by the Ukrainian army.

Tonight, residents of Donetsk came to lay flowers at the place that was shelled the same morning by the AFU in the Kirovsky district, and January 22, 2024 was declared a day of mourning in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Christelle Néant

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