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Shop NowAt least 20 civilians were killed and dozens more injured when a missile struck the separatist capital of Donetsk on March 14. Footage of the aftermath shows undeniable carnage and sidewalks strewn with corpses and severed limbs, but as with almost everything else in this war, it is difficult to say what happened. Both sides have already blamed each other for the attack, so it’s unlikely that anyone will admit to being responsible.
Civilians killed in separatist stronghold
Donetsk was home to almost a million people before the war and is the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of the two Russian-backed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine.
The city has been on the front lines of the war in Donbas for the last eight years; thousands of civilians have been killed in the region since the fighting broke out in 2014.
Since the Russian invasion, the front has moved west and the separatists have conquered most of the contested Donetsk Oblast, which they claim as their territory.
Most military aged men in the Donetsk People’s Republic and its counterpart the Luhansk People’s Republic have been conscripted into the separatist militias.
These forces are fighting alongside regular Russian troops and have proven to be very effective due to having so many combat veterans available, despite their often subpar equipment.
If the Ukrainians wanted to get revenge for the attacks on their cities and show the Russians that they can retaliate in kind, Donetsk would be a natural target.
Ukrainians and Russians blame each other
Kiev, however, denies this. Ukraine quickly dismissed the accusations and said that the strike on the separatist capital was a Russian false flag attack.
The type of missile used is currently in service with the Ukrainian military, but the Russians could easily have acquired one if they really did want to stage the incident.
Separatist leaders claim that the missile would have done even more damage if they had not intercepted it just before it detonated over central Donetsk.
The damage it did cause was plentiful enough; shrapnel from the blast tore through civilians at a bank and a bus stop, including children.
There were no military targets in the immediate area, so if the location was intentional then it seems to have been explicitly meant to terrorize civilians living in the separatist stronghold.
Unfortunately, as with the many disputed bombings in Ukrainian cities it is unlikely that any kind of objective and independent investigation into the missile strike will ever be allowed to take place.
