Two men, one Russian and one Ukrainian have been identified by the Ukrainian internal security agency, the SBU for their role in a 2015 artillery attack on a bus in western Donetsk, according to several Russian language news accounts.
The attack took place January 13th, 2015 in Volnovaha, where Ukrainian military say a Russian backed rebel rocket artillery unit struck a passenger bus, killing 12.
According to a news report which appeared in korrespondent.net, Russian army Colonel Anatoly Sinelnikov and Yuri Shpakov combined to call a rocket artillery mission on top of a Ukrainian army checkpoint. The rocket artillery, said to be 122mm rockets from a BM-21 Grad rocket artillery launcher, was commanded by Shpakov. A separate news report in vesti.ukr.ua said that Shpakov is a Ukrainian national fighting in the service of the rebels. Col. Sinelnikov is identified as the commanding officer of the rebel 5th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, the unit to which the rocket unit was attached.
The reports say that the rocket artillery unit was based in Dokuchaevsk when the incident occurred.
Reports at the time of the incident, quoting rebel sources, were that the bus was struck by a Ukrainian directional mine, similar to a Claymore mine. A video of the location released by the Ukrainian side showed rocket artillery impacts in the area, but rebel media said the video was doctored and that the impacts looked nothing like a BM-21 rocket artillery attack.
The SBU cannot bring charges against Col. Sinelnikov or Shpakov; they only can refer a criminal case to a prosecutor, likely the Ukrainian national prosecutor's office in Kiev. The reports do not indicate Col. Sinelnikov's location or current command, but they do say Shpakov is still in Dokuchaevsk.
Since the summer of 2015, BM-21 rocket launchers were removed by agreement from the line of contact by both sides. Before that time it was the most commonly used artillery by both sides. Despite the agreement by both sides not to use BM-21s, an occasional report filters out of both sides using the multiple rocket launcher system, to limited effect.
The BM-21 in its most common configuration has a range of about 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles. The distance between Dokuchaevsk and Volnovaha is close to 11 miles.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reports that five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in ongoing artillery attacks along the line of contact in Donetsk and Lugansk.
According to a report which appeared in lb.ua, rebel mortar fire hit locations in southern Donetsk including at Novotroitskoye, Vodyanoye, Pavlopol and Bogdanovka. Near Donetsk city, rebel mortar fire hit Ukrainian positions at Avdievka. Rebel mortar fire also was reported in Lugansk at Novoaleksandrovka and Popasnaya.
Rebel media said the Ukrainian overnight shelling (Mar. 8th-Mar. 9th) hit several locations in Donetsk for a total of 388 shells. The locations hit by Ukrainian artillery include near Donetsk city at Gorlovka, Zaitsevo, Yasinovataya, Aleksandrovka, Trudovskoye and western outskirts of Donetsk city. In the south locations hit by Ukrainian overnight shelling include Yelenovka, Kominternovo and Oktyabrskoye.
According to a news release posted by the Donetsk ministry of defense, Ukrainian shelling struck several residential buildings at Yelenovka and Yasinovataya, damaging two buildings. Three more buildings were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery in Gorlovka and Zaitsevo.
Gas lines in southern Donetsk were damaged by early morning (March 9th) Ukrainian shelling in Kominternovo and Sahanka.