Spot report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), 22 January 2015: Shelling Incident on Kuprina Street in Donetsk City

This report is provided for the media and general public

At 08:40hrs on 22 January, the “Emergency Services Department” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) informed the SMM of an alleged shelling incident – involving multiple fatalities – at 42 Kuprina Street, 4.4km south-south-west of city-centre Donetsk.

On arrival at the scene 20 minutes later, the SMM observed a trolleybus which had been hit by shrapnel and a burnt-out car 20m away, also hit by shrapnel. All windows in the trolleybus were shattered and tyres punctured. The SMM observed seven dead bodies, three females, three males and one of indeterminate gender. Three of the bodies were in the bus, three in close proximity to the bus – the furthest approximately 25m away – and one in the burnt-out car.

The SMM observed two craters. One of them, 8m north-east of the bus, had a depth of 5cm and a diameter of 1.5m. The other, 150m south-east of the bus, had a depth of 15cm and a diameter of 1.8m. At 11:00hrs the SMM conducted a crater analysis on both craters, and determined that the rounds that caused the two craters had been fired from a north-western direction. The SMM also determined that the weapon(s) used was most likely either a mortar or an artillery piece.

At 11:30hrs the SMM visited Donetsk Regional Trauma Hospital, where the chief surgeon said that 13 people with injuries sustained in the incident on Kuprina Street had been admitted. All of the injured, he said, had suffered serious injuries and all of them required surgery. He said they were all either middle-aged or elderly. The SMM spoke to a 63-year-old man awaiting surgery, who said that he had been caught up in the second blast as he walked to work at approximately 07:30hrs. He said he had sustained shrapnel wounds to his left leg.

At 16:00hrs the SMM contacted a representative of Donetsk City Morgue, who said that eight bodies – related to the incident on Kuprina Street – had been received by the morgue.