NEW – April 8, 2022
As a result of a “Tochka-U” missile strike on Kramatorsk in the area of the railway station, where the evacuation of civilians was taking place, according to preliminary data, 30 people were killed, about 100 wounded.
“All statements made by representatives of the Kiev nationalist regime about an alleged ‘missile attack’ by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk are a provocation and absolutely do not correspond to reality.
The Russian armed forces did not have any firing tasks on April 8 in the city of Kramatorsk and none were planned.
We emphasise that the ‘Tochka—U’ tactical missiles, the wreckage of which was found in the area of the Kramatorsk railway station and published by eyewitnesses, are used only by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” military commander Evgeny Poddubny quotes the statement of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
Moreover, discrepancies have already appeared in the statements of the adviser to the Office of the President Aleksey Arestovich and the President of Ukraine Zelensky.
On the “Tochka-U” missile that arrived in Kramatorsk it is written “For children”.
“Tochka-U” is a Soviet tactical missile system capable of striking at a distance of up to 70 kilometres. The complex is capable of launching missiles with the warhead of conventional, nuclear and chemical equipment. The “Tochka-U” missile system is not used by either the Russian army or the L/DPR forces.
“The type of ammunition, as it was used in Donetsk at that time, is cluster,” said Eduard Basurin, a representative of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic, on the air of the “Rossiya 1” TV channel.
According to Eduard Basurin, Russia has the technical ability to establish where the strike came from, and he hopes that “intelligence will tell who was directly behind the button and pressed this launch button”.
The Defence Ministry has already established that the strike was carried out by a missile division of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the area of the settlement of Dobropole, 45 kilometres southwest of the city.
“The purpose of the Kiev regime’s strike on the station in Kramatorsk was to disrupt the mass departure of residents from the city in order to use them as a ‘human shield’ to defend the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as in many other settlements of Ukraine,” the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation said in a statement.
Over the past day, Ukrainian troops have fired more than 250 shells and munitions on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic alone.
“The districts of 10 settlements of the Republic came under fire. As a result of the Ukrainian aggression, 23 civilians, including one child, were injured,” the DPR People’s Militia said in a statement.
In particular, the administration and kindergarten of the city of Yasinovataya were shelled, 10 “Grad” rockets were fired at Aleksandrovka. A school in Rubezhnoye of the Lugansk People’s Republic, where humanitarian aid was distributed, was shelled. According to eyewitnesses, seven people were killed.
Doctor of Military Sciences and retired captain of the first rank Konstantin Sivkov notes that it is difficult to fully suppress the batteries, since they are located in a residential area.
“There’s a dilemma here. We must either abandon the saving of civilians and destroy these batteries, and then, when they are deprived of the opportunity to fire at people, but will resist our troops, despite the losses of civilians, brutally destroy the fortified area in which the residential building is located.
Another way is to slowly, delicately, surgically, gradually destroy these batteries using drones and other means. The way we are going now.
This is a matter of calculations, especially considering the fact that with such a filigree action we lose our soldiers and officers.”
“Svobodnaya Pressa”: Why was such a blow to Kramatorsk needed?
“It was definitely inflicted with the sole purpose of encouraging civilians to resist the Russian Armed Forces. They (the Ukrainian authorities — ed.) blame Russia for this strike. This is a provocation aimed at binding the residents of Kramatorsk with blood, encouraging them to fight against Russia.
These attacks on Donbass, Lugansk region also aim to tie the blood of 62,000 people who are sitting in a fortified area near Donbass.”
“Svobodnaya Pressa”: Maybe it is necessary to strengthen the air defences?
“Everything is there, everything is knocked down, it’s just that we cannot deflect the shells, but the missiles are successfully shot down. And Kramatorsk is not under our control.”
According to Mikhail Aleksandrov, a leading expert at the MGIMO Centre for Military and Political Studies, the terrible provocation in Kramatorsk shows that Zelensky’s regime is a regime of war criminals.
“The fact that we are negotiating with them is unacceptable. The opposing side uses them to confuse our public, to encourage its troops. It is impossible to conclude any agreements with them. And there’s no need to. This is the regime of war criminals.
How many war crimes have they committed? They have to pay for Mariupol alone. And here they are already directly, by order from Kiev, beginning to destroy peaceful citizens. I do not think that the attack on the train station was carried out without the direct sanction of Kiev. They announced an evacuation, gathered people, struck. This is a criminal act.”
“Svobodnaya Pressa”: Why, despite the destruction of a huge number of weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, does such serious shelling of Donbass still continue? Is there anything we can do?
“It is impossible to immediately break through the defence in the Donbass region, which was created for eight years, without encirclement, and it was not enough to encircle the troops.
An air defence system operates there, but it mainly protects the part of Donbass that was not initially captured by Ukrainian troops. When they withdraw, there is no air defence there yet, and they are striking, including those settlements that have been liberated. Air defence is good, but it does not give 100% protection.
This will continue until we defeat the Donbass grouping.”
Irina Guseva
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