1 December 2014

Video shows Russian militants firing Grads from residential area of Donetsk

The Interpreter: 01. December 2014
by  15:57 (GMT)

View image on Twitter

The following video was uploaded this afternoon, it appears to show Grad rockets being launched from a residential area:


The description of the video states that it was filmed today at 15:50 local time (12:50 GMT) in the Shirokiy area of Donetsk.
The blocks of flats seen in the video are recognisable on Google maps, here.
Note the arrangement of buildings and the tree opposite the camera. There are two set further back and then another to the right that is closer to the camera.
Considering that the sun would be setting to the west at this time, it is likely that the buildings on the left side of the screen, the tops of which are illuminated by sunlight, are facing west.
This means that the camera is looking south and the rockets are being fired westwards.
Here is a tweet illustrating this from @djp3tros who writes the Ukraine@War blog:

View image on Twitter
Most likely shot like this

This means that the rockets are likely aimed at Marinka, a suburb of Donetsk controlled by Ukrainian forces.

View image on Twitter
Donetsk buildings hit by return fire

This is not the first time Russian-backed fighters have been recorded firing from this area.
On September 30, @djp3tros geolocated two other videos showing Grad launches from the same immediate area, in the fields to the east of the block.


The video published today appears to show the Grads firing from an even closer position to the housing blocks.
A child's voice is also clearly audible on the video. By using such residential areas for launch positions, the separatists are endangering civilian lives by opening them up to the threat of counter-bombardments from the Ukrainians in Marinka and the south-west.

-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, James Miller and Pierre Vaux

Published in Press-Stream Ukraine Live Day 287 in Publication Ukraine Liveblogs

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