Two Russian rockets hit Pokrovsk – the second only 40 minutes after the first, long after helpers were on site. Ukraine is convinced that this is exactly what the Russian army wanted.
Ukraine has accused the Russian army of targeted attacks on rescue workers. In the rocket attack on a residential area in Pokrovsk on Monday, a second rocket landed 40 minutes after the first, killing and injuring rescue workers.
The Ukrainian authorities do not consider this a coincidence: “The enemy deliberately struck a second time,” said national police chief Ivan Vyhivskyj. According to Ukrainian sources, most of the more than 80 people injured in the attack are rescue workers, especially police officers. Among the dead is the deputy chief of emergency services of the Donetsk region.
“Typical Russian scenario”
The head of the city administration of Pokrovsk, Serhiy Dobriak, called the time interval between the two attacks a typical Russian scenario: “When the helpers come to save people’s lives, another rocket hits and the death toll increases,” said he.
Since the beginning of the war, Russia has repeatedly resorted to tactics known in military jargon as a “double strike”. A target is shot at a second time after about 30 minutes, often hitting rescue teams. Russian troops have already used this approach in the Syrian civil war.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
The head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, made a similar statement. According to him, people could still be rescued between the impacts on Monday. After the first rocket, even more people wanted to go to the site of the impact, including journalists: “If we hadn’t taken additional measures within ten minutes, the terrible consequences of these two rocket attacks would have been even worse,” said Kyrylenko.
The day after the attack in Pokrovsk: A crane is used to remove and secure large pieces of debris.
Russia claims attack on command posts
The UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Denise Brown, described the latest attack as absolutely ruthless and spoke of a serious violation of international law that violates every principle of humanity.
Russia, on the other hand, said it had hit a Ukrainian army command post in Pokrovsk. In fact, among the destroyed buildings is a hotel where journalists often stayed when they were in the area – including correspondents of the ARD.
With information from Andrea Beer, ARD Kiev