36 killed, -93 wounded ? Result LPR attack successful | Date 11 July 2014 | |
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The Zelenopillya rocket attack took place on 11 July 2014 during the War in Donbass. The rocket barrage launched by pro-Russian forces killed 36 Ukrainian soldiers and border guards in a camp.
Contents
Background
Ukrainian camp in Zelenopillya was periodically observed by UAV's. Ukrainian forces were able to shot down one of them near the camp, it was Russian-made Orlan-10 UAV.
Rocket attack
In the early morning of 11 July 2014, pro-Russian forces fired a barrage of 9K51M "Tornado-G" rockets in 40 salvos beginning at 4:40 a.m. They targeted an armored convoy of the Ukrainian Ground Forces from a distance of 15 km. The Ukrainian column was camped in a field near the village of Zelenopillya, situated along the main highway to Luhansk in the Sverdlovsk/Leninsky district near Rovenky. The town is located only 9 km from the Russian border. The Ukrainian armored brigades were a part of a main contingent of troops guarding the Ukrainian-Russian border against the illegal movement of military equipment from Russia into Eastern Ukraine.
At least 19 soldiers were killed and 93 others were injured in the rocket strike. Many of the dead were burned alive while still in their vehicles. Four Ural-4320 transport trucks full of troops were struck. According to one Ukrainian soldier's account, the 1st Battalion of the 79th Mykolaiv Airmobile Brigade was "almost completely destroyed" during the rocket onslaught. Chief physician of a regional hospital, Serhiy Ryzhenko reported the wounded to be in grave condition, with some undergoing traumatic leg amputations and lose of limbs.
Zoryan Shkiryak, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister Arsen Avakov, described the destruction as "really heavy" and put the Ukrainian military death toll at 30. The defense ministry lowered the toll to 19 killed and 93 others injured.
DPR military leader, Igor Strelkov, told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency that his fighters participated in the Zelenopillya rocket attack, and were successful in killing over 30 soldiers and destroying a Ukrainian armored convoy from the 24th Mechanised Brigade.
According to a investigation a year later, 36 Ukrainian soldiers and border guards were killed during that strike. Ukrainian border guards Colonel Ihor Momot was among the fallen.
Reactions
In response to the rocket strike, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko held an emergency cabinet meeting and issued a statement condemning the attack and vowing to "find and destroy" the pro-Russian rebels accountable. He also said for every Ukrainian serviceman's life the militants will pay with "tens and hundreds of their own".
The United States Department of Treasury instituted a new set of sanctions on Russia after reliable evidence emerged of the rockets being fired from within Russian territory. Videos by a resident of the rocket launchers firing at Ukrainian positions, matched the very same Google Maps view of the same physical features inside Russian territory, bordering Ukraine.