According to the reports from Donetsk, the warhead of Tochka-U missile was loaded with 50 cassettes of clustered charges. After the interception, fragment of the rocket fell on the city not far away from the target, and one cluster exploded, causing death of the civilians, including women and a child. Shortly before that, a fake invitation was placed on the social media, asking women to gather in the center of the city, reportedly to get information about the state of their men fighting at the front, thus luring victims to the point of attack. If it were not intercepted, the death toll would have been in the order of hundreds of people.
“The Alley of Angels. To the memory of the killed children of Donbass.”
From Sputnik news Moscow Disheartened by US, EU Silence on Deaths of Donetsk Civilians in Ukrainian Missile Attack
20 people were killed and 36 more were injured on Monday after a Ukrainian Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile exploded in the heart of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s capital. The Russian Foreign Ministry characterised the attack as a “crime against humanity” and warned that it would “not go unpunished.”
Moscow is disappointed over Western silence in the wake of the 14 March attack on Donetsk civilians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov has said.“We are very, very disappointed that European leaders, my colleague [White House press secretary Jen] Psaki, her boss, US President Joe Biden, the leaders of international organisations, the leadership of NATO, have not said anything yesterday or today about Donetsk, or those civilian residents who died from the missile launched by the Ukrainian military,” Peskov said, speaking at a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
“I will not give any personal assessment on this matter. I just want to state this and urge everyone to pay attention to this fact,” Peskov added.
A Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missile equipped with cluster munitions was shot down over the centre of the city of Donetsk on Monday, killing 20 civilians and injuring 36 others.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov suggested that the shelling of the Donetsk People’s Republic using such illegal cluster munitions was evidence that Ukrainian forces were seeking to kill as many civilians as possible, and said a decision on the Tochka-U’s use would require approval from the Ukrainian military leadership in Kiev.