Spot report by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), 2 October 2014: ICRC Staff Member Killed in Shelling in Donetsk City

SUMMARY

An ICRC staff member was killed in shelling whilst apparently standing outside the front door of the ICRC office in Donetsk city on 2 October.

DETAIL

From 17:15 to 18:00hrs, on 2 October, at intervals of every fifteen minutes, the SMM heard very loud explosions somewhere in the north of Donetsk city. At around 18:00hrs, the SMM heard a quick succession of five incoming rounds, which it assessed to have been Uragan rockets, again in the north of the city.

Fifteen minutes later the head of the local branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Donetsk, calling on the phone from Kyiv, told the SMM that the ICRC office in Donetsk city had just been shelled and one staff member had been killed. 

At 18:30hrs, the Emergency Services of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) called the SMM, confirming that they had arrived at the ICRC office – located 2.7km north-west of the city centre – and had found a corpse. According to the Emergency Services, the ‘DPR” police – also at the scene – having discovered identification papers that identified the deceased as a Swiss national.