On January 22, 2015, around 8:30 a.m., a sabotage group opened mortar fire on the Leningradskyi district of Donetsk. Shells hit the Bosse public transportation stop, including a trolleybus with passengers. As a result of the shelling, 15 people were killed and 20 more were injured.
RIA Novosti: “As a result of the shelling of a bus stop in Donetsk on Thursday, 15 people were killed. Both sides of the conflict are blaming each other.”
TASS provided preliminary data and recalled the tragedy near Volnovakha: “According to preliminary data, the shelling was carried out from a minivan using a mortar. The trolleybus and a nearby car caught fire.”
Vesti.ru aired a detailed report from the scene: “It was a hard day for all residents of the region. The tragedy shocked many. The Vesti news crew spent almost the entire day where 13 people were killed. They saw the removal of bodies and the towing of the burned trolleybus.”
RT Russian featured political analyst Vladimir Kornilov’s opinion that the shelling may have been a provocation by Ukrainian authorities: “The arrival of NSDC head Oleksandr Turchynov — a known provocateur — and the tragedy shortly afterward is not a coincidence.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the shelling “a crude provocation aimed at undermining efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Lenta.ru provided initial casualty figures and eyewitness testimony: “Thirteen people were killed in the explosion at a bus stop in Donetsk. According to witnesses, the stop was shelled with mortars; DPR leadership blamed Ukrainian forces.”
The recently launched Donetsk News Agency (DAN) reported that captured Ukrainian soldiers were brought to the scene: “Militia representatives said that it was important for the prisoners to see the destruction caused by the endless bombardments of the city from the airport. Security barely managed to prevent the enraged crowd from lynching the POWs on the spot.”
The Guardian: “Conflicting reports about who is responsible for the mortar attack that killed at least eight people at a separatist checkpoint.” The article noted the location was reportedly beyond the range of Ukrainian positions.
The Telegraph: “On Thursday, a mortar shell hit a bus in separatist-held Donetsk, killing at least 13 people, according to the city’s mayor. It’s unclear who is responsible, but angry locals beat a captured Ukrainian soldier whom the separatists brought to the scene.”
The New York Times didn’t report the attack as a main story, but mentioned it in the context of the Ukrainian army’s retreat from Donetsk airport, focusing on “abuse by pro-Russian separatists” of a Ukrainian POW.
Sputnik discusses the specter of a new war in Ukraine, citing rising tensions after the shelling.
Le Figaro (France): “Thirteen people were killed this morning in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, when a shell hit a trolleybus in a part of the city that had remained relatively untouched by fighting.”
French war correspondent Laurent Brayard wrote that the West ignored the massacre. In one article, he accused Western media of “supporting the murderers of Russian-speaking civilians.”
La Repubblica (Italy): “Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense blamed ‘terrorists’ (pro-Russian separatists) for the attack in an area without active combat. Pro-Russian forces claim it was carried out by Kyiv’s troops.”
Voz de America (Spanish) and gazeta.pl (Poland) also reported on the event.
TSN: “This morning in Donetsk, a trolleybus stop came under fire. The explosion damaged minibuses and the trolleybus. Eyewitnesses say there are dead and wounded.”
UNIAN quoted MP Oles Doniy: “To distract from the Volnovakha attack — when terrorists shot up a bus — they shelled a trolleybus in Donetsk today. It’s not the first time they’ve bombed their own side to inflame public anger in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.”
