Donetsk, front line

In Donetsk, during the shelling, more than 10 passengers of the trolleybus were killed. The Ukrainian military left the airport

In Donetsk, on Thursday, the shell fell into a stop, from which a trolley was leaving . According to various sources, from 8 to 13 people were killed, more than 20 were injured.

The leaders of the separatists accused of a certain Ukrainian sabotage group, according to the representative of the so -called Ministry of Defense of the “DPR”, “persons involved in the sabotage act in the Leninsky district of Donetsk, which led to the deaths of nine people, were detained.” However, later the so -called head of the self -proclaimed "DPR" Alexander Zakharchenko denied this information. "These were not saboteurs. A stop in the Bosse microdistrict fired at artillery from Avdeevka," he told reporters at the place of the tragedy.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in turn, has refuted its involvement in the tragedy in Donetsk. “The militias of public transport stopping in Donetsk on Thursday morning were led from the city’s residential quarters,” the press service of the ministry said. They also noted that the shelling was led from the side where there were no combat clashes: "The place where the trolley was fired at is located more than 15 km from the place where the ATO forces are located. There was no destruction in this area."

#Donetsk #Emergencies Ministry confirmed 10 dead after the mortar shelling of Leninsky. Locals say they shot at Pic.twitter.com/kaibyuyisi minibus

- Roman Kosarev (@kosarev_rt) January 22, 2015

According to one version, shelling was made from the so -called "nomadic mortar":

The journalist of the Donbass News Edition Vitaly Sizov adheres to this version:

-This is the tactics of separatists, they use some nomadic mortars. It was still in Slavyansk. The point where the explosion was removed from the place of hostilities, so it is not clear why to shoot at it, and in general, whether Ukrainian artillery can reach here. If it was a mortar, he has a limited range, and it is not clear how he was in general in the city, where everything was blocked, checkpoints, full of armed separatists. This indicates whose mortar shot. The townspeople are intimidated by some Ukrainian sabotage groups that allegedly call in the city and shoot around the city, that it was supposedly Ukrainians who do to blame the so-called militias. But, it seems to me, such arguments can not withstand critics, because how can a minibus with a mortar to the city through checkpoints, a city, which were weapons, militants and informants, have not yet been caught, while no one has yet to be caught? This is absurd.

- What is the reason for the aggravation of the situation in the so -called "Donetsk People's Republic"?

-My opinion is not distinguished by originality, I believe that in this way someone scores points before the next round of negotiations. When the next round fell in Minsk, an exacerbation occurred. Someone at the top is probably trying to speak from the standpoint of power. It seems to me that first of all, the Russian side wants to squeeze some of his arguments in this way.

Representatives of the OSCE mission arrived at the place of the tragedy, they will also conduct their investigation.

. @Osce now at Scene of #donetsk Bus Stop Scene. Their Calculation Seems to Indicate Shell Came from NW Direction. pic.twitter.com/3DDW4H8YQE

- Christopher Miller (@christopherjm) January 22, 2015

Later, a video appeared on the Internet in which a person who is allegedly one of the prisoners of the Ukrainian military at the airport is brought to the place of the tragedy. After attempts by people to make a prisoner self -proper are put in a Toyota car with a miletic and Russian numbers from 96 regions (Sverdlovsk region). Journalists of Znak.com (Yekaterinburg) found out that the car number that is clearly video on the video belongs to another machine, Nissan. Its owner is a PR man from Yekaterinburg, who in 2013 left for Donetsk to work for the SKM holding Ukrainian Binezman Rinat Akhmetov.

The prosecutor's office of Ukraine qualified the shelling in Donetsk as a terrorist attack . In the official statement of the department, responsibility for what happened rests with the separatists. The Ostrov site writes with links to eyewitnesses that shelling was fired by separatists from the side of 4 kilometers from the motorcycle stop. At the same time, in social networks you can find messages of a two-day given that in the area of the motorcycle was seen a diversion-reconnaissance group (DRG) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On the streets of Donetsk, the separatists on Thursday held Ukrainian soldiers captured during the fighting for the airport.

Donetsk airport

On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, as follows from the messages of several Ukrainian journalists and volunteers at once, the last soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine left the Donetsk airport, more precisely, those premises in its new terminal, which they managed to hold until the last. According to one version, we are talking about an unsuccessful operation of the army to release the terminal. There are dead and wounded - according to various sources, up to 37 Ukrainian military were killed in a day, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirms the death of ten military personnel.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Thursday in the morning stated : on Wednesday, "20 military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine came out of the battles from the territory of terminals, since their positions were destroyed and shot by direct guidance. 16 military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were injured and captured. 6 Ukrainian military were killed in battles in battles in battles." At the same time, the report said that fierce battles around the city of Donetsk do not stop, "part of the buildings and part of the airport remains under the control of Ukrainian military."

This information was confirmed by the acting official representative of the Ukrainian General Staff Vladislav Seleznev . On Thursday morning at a briefing, he stated that due to the fact that the territory of the new terminal of the Donetsk airport was shot through and through, the night before, it was decided to "leave the terminal to new borders." "Ukrainian" cyborgs "are located in certain areas and facilities in the territory of the Donetsk airport. Currently, battles are ongoing, a runway is completely destroyed,” said Vladislav Seleznev.

Military expert Konstantin Mashovets says that, according to him, the Ukrainian military continues to hold the western part of the airport, including a weatherboard and a drive radar, part of the runway, also still control the positions in the settlements of the sands and the experienced. Fights are going on. ”

The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, Sergei Pashinsky, the day before, stated that “the Donetsk airport has been completely destroyed, destroyed the runway, and it has no importance, including from a military point of view, and the fights for it are the issue of honor of one or the other side.”

“Yesterday, 16 Ukrainian military, having received a shell -and -off during the battles, were captured by militants of the so -called“ DPR ”. Negotiations are underway regarding their release from captivity,” said the representative of the General Staff, adding that at the moment it is known at least about six dead military in the Donetsk airport. The General Staff later announced 10 dead.

Among the wounded is the leader of the Right Sector, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Dmitry Yarosh. Its press secretary Artem Skoropadsky said:

“For Dmitry Yarosh recently, the main task, of course, was a military, not purely political task, despite the fact that he became a people's deputy. Therefore, all the time he was in the area of active hostilities, or in the sands, or very close to the airport. And yesterday some shell exploded, or it was a fragment from“ Grad ”, or from some other salvo fire system, and it was quite wounded in a rather wounded in His hand is damaged a little, but all these injuries, fortunately, are not a threat to his life.

The information of officials about what happened at the airport is confirmed by volunteers who help the Ukrainian army:

The fact that the largest part of the new terminal of the Donetsk airport was transferred to the control of the separatists was known a few days ago. At the same time, several of its premises, in which it was possible to hide from direct sniper and artillery fire, remained under the control of the military until yesterday . In the past two days, the army commanders and Ukrainian journalists who follow the situation announced an unspoken "silence regime" - as many observers suggested, in connection with the upcoming army operation to return to Ukraine the full control of the airport and its environs. However, on the night of Thursday, the editor -in -chief of the Ukrainian website of Censor.net, Yuri Butusov, wrote on Facebook that the last Ukrainian soldiers left the Terminal ruins.

The fact that the Ukrainian military was forced to leave the airport after an unsuccessful army operation, Ukrainian volunteer Georgy Tuka said on Facebook:

"The leadership of the General Staff, led by General Muzhenko, developed an military operation, the essence of which was as follows: our guys had to deliver a flange blow and throw the enemy into 3-4 km. Such a blow suggested turning the airport from the demarcation point in the rear objects. I would like to believe that it was also supposed to destroy the runway, because of it there was no longer there strategic objects there. It remains.

Our guys fulfilled the first part of the task successfully: the enemy was discarded and the information that the battles moved to Donetsk was true. However, it is not enough to capture the territory or object. The main thing is to hold it. And, our guys could not cope with this task. Why? I express my point of view, exclusively mine. Without details. For example, out of 10 armored vehicles, two were able to get to the point “X”. The rest got due to breakdowns. Of the 10 tanks - two. Thick fog. Visibility of 20 meters. The enemy easily suppressed the connection (both mobile and radio). There are no observation and adjustments in conditions of poor visibility.

Here, in such conditions, our guys were. They had no choice but to retreat. And, they have terrorists "on their shoulders" in the building.
There was a situation when on the third floor and on the first - the enemy, and on the second - ours. The guys caused artillery fire on themselves, hoping to hide behind the ceilings. And so it happened. But, during this time, the enemy managed to undermine the supports and the ceiling collapsed at our guys. Under the wreckage were both living and wounded. Alas, there were the dead ...
Parts of the guys managed to leave the airport, some were captured. There is hope that there are still living fighters under the rubble. "

Yuri Butusov also writes about the unsuccessful planning of the operation to return the airport control:

At the same time, one of the "cyborgs" told the Ukrainian Pravda online publication that the operation was broken due to the fact that the militants took possession of the radio, which he lost during the fight from the ATO fighters, and therefore the enemy was aware of all the plans of the Ukrainian side.

Information about the final departure from the airport of the Ukrainian military is confirmed by other sources. So, the message about this was posted on the page of the Azov volunteer battalion on Facebook and on the page of one of the founders of the Ukrainian volunteer movement "SOS Army" Yuri Kasyanov :

According to the adviser to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko Yuri Biryukova , the Donetsk airport area remains the front line:

The new terminal of Donetsk Airport was opened in May 2012 - to the European Football Championship, several matches of which were played in Donetsk. On May 26, 2014, the building tried to capture the separatists of the self -proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” , but as a result of a special operation, the Ukrainian army returned control over the airport a day later. Nevertheless, flights from the airport were stopped. Now almost all buildings on its territory are completely destroyed.

Sergey Prokofiev International Airport in Donetsk has become one of the symbols of the confrontation between Ukrainian troops and pro -Russian separatists.

The battles continue in other areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. According to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Donetsk region Vyacheslav Abroskin, the separatists firing the settlements of Debaltsevo and Avdeevka. In the Luhansk region, according to the Information Resistance group , collisions continue in the area of the Bakhmutka automobile highway.