New Cold War.org, May 2, 2016
The following commentaries are posted by Ivan Katchanovski to his Facebook page concerning the shelling attack by Ukrainian armed forces on April 27, 2016 which killed four civilians and injured others. That story is reported here on New Cold War.org.
Ivan Katchanovski is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Ottawa who has published extensive research on the arson murder committed by extreme-right forces in Odessa on May 2, 2014.
* Oleksandr Turchynov, who now heads the National Security and Defense Council, claims that four civilians were killed by separatists [sic] at a separatist checkpoint in Donbas as result of a provocation by shelling from a South-South-West direction. Like in many other similar cases, this claim is presented without any evidence. It contradicts a report of the special monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe report which concluded, based on its examination of positions of impact, that fire was from the west-south-west direction, which is controlled by the Ukrainian forces. But the Ukrainian media publishes such a false claim by a top official as a matter of fact. This is another illustration how the current Ukrainian government officials and the media can openly misrepresent the violence. Similar open misrepresentation is done in the cases of the Maidan and Odesa massacre, in spite of forensic medical and ballistic reports, videos, testimonies of eyewitnesses, bullet impact holes, admissions of involvement, and other evidence.
Report in Pravda.com, April 29, 2016: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/04/29/7107175/
* I am posting the assessment by OSCE experts of the hard evidence which indicates shelling by howitzer-caliber long range artillery from the Ukrainian forces area on April 27. “The SMM responded to reports of early-morning shelling resulting in civilian casualties in the area of ‘DPR’-controlled Olenivka (23km south-west of Donetsk). At the scene, 650m north of a ‘DPR’ checkpoint, the SMM observed the bodies of three men and one woman. The SMM also analysed five craters. From two craters the SMM assessed that the impacts were caused by fire from the west-south-west, and that the type of weapon used was likely 122mm artillery. From three other craters the SMM assessed that the impacts were caused likely by fire from the west-south-west and that the calibre of weapon used was not less than 120mm (see SMM Spot Report 28 April 2016).”
Spot report on April 27 of OSCE special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine: http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/237451
* The claim that the shelling was from mortars of smaller caliber and range is part of the disinformation campaign by Ukrainian government officials and the media, since the OSCE mission report clearly stated use of a much large caliber and artillery shells.
Report in Ukraine Today: http://uatoday.tv/crime/ukraine-on-olenivka-shelling-range-too-long-for-ukrainian-mortars-to-hit-checkpoint-640604.html
* Western media reports about this shelling either do not mention the OSCE findings or present both claims about shelling by Ukrainian forces and a false flag shelling or detonation of explosive by separatists. This is another illustration that the media, including the Western media, is not a reliable source of information on the war in Donbas.
AFP news report, April 27: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/31451489/pregnant-woman-among-4-killed-in-east-ukraine-rebels/
Backgound:
At least four civilians killed by Ukrainian shelling of checkpoint at Elenovka (Yelenovka), eastern Ukraine, New Cold War.org, April 28, 2016
OSCE hides Ukrainian war crimes: No report about shelled hospital in Yelenovka, Donbass International News Agency, April 28, 2016
