Who Should be Held Accountable for the Donetsk Market Shelling of 1/21/24?

I heard about this attack when it happened over a year ago, on January 21, 2024, but I never looked into it until now, when it caught my attention again. 27 civilians were killed and 25 injured, according to local authorities. Luckily no children died, but 2 teenage boys were among the wounded. 

UPI report

"Russia's foreign ministry blamed Ukraine for "the terrorist act," stating in a Telegram statement Monday that Kyiv forces "deliberately targeted" the market with six artillery rounds."

"Meanwhile, Kyiv has denied responsibility, with its Joint Press Center of the Ukrainian Defense Forces fighting on the southern front stating it wasn't involved in combat operations there." 

"Donetsk is Ukraine!" it said in a statement Sunday night. "Russia will have to take responsibility for the lives of Ukrainians that have been taken."

This IMPLIES - but doesn't specify - that Russia actually fired those shells, killing its own citizens. (They allege this every time such an event occurs.) President Zelensky was more explicit when he ...

"...also blamed Russia for the attack in his nightly address on Sunday, but without mentioning the market by name. "On this day alone, Russian savages shelled more than a hundred cities, towns and our Ukrainian villages in nine regions: from Chernihiv and Sumy to Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad. The most brutal Russian attacks were in Donetsk region. Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead," he said. "Russia will be held accountable for all this terror -- it must be."

Once again, both sides blamed each other for this most brutal of the day's several shelling attacks. Those killed were among those who voted to leave Ukraine and become Russians, are considered that by themselves and Russia, and Russia stands accused of killing them, presumably to make Ukraine look bad. It could work since Ukraine does have potential motive to punish and terrorize the locals. 

Once again if very belatedly, I'll have to check the evidence I can actually make sense of, to see who was lying here. The quickest way - and it's still allowed for now - was to check some Telegram channels I follow for videos and photos. Most of the links I checked:

https://t.me/Elena_Evdokimova_Digest/31064

https://t.me/Elena_Evdokimova_Digest/31065

https://t.me/RTandSputnikNews/23260

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/86003

https://t.me/Elena_Evdokimova_Digest/31105

https://t.me/nm_dnr/11631

https://t.me/chp_donetska/80615

https://t.me/zvezdanews/137105

https://t.me/readovkanews/72775

https://t.me/chp_donetska/80502

https://t.me/zvezdanews/137107

https://t.me/chp_donetska/80547

https://t.me/chp_donetska/80581

https://t.me/chp_donetska/80491

https://t.me/DNR_SCKK/18376

I didn't bother citing the few images and details used here, but they're somewhere on that list.

Location: NOT where I thought in central Donetsk where so many deadly market attacks have occurred, but in one of the other such spots, in the Tekstilshchik micro-district, on the western outskirts. Аптека pharmacy on Google Maps is the building seen in videos with some 10 bodies around it, laying mostly face-down, pouring blood into the snow, with some crashed cars people likely died in, and broken shop windows others may have been killed behind. That was the main carnage, but at least one more shell, probably 2 or more, hit the market area to the NW (blue roofs), killing at least 4 or 5 seen in videos. Exact location & impact details unclear there. 

I was able to make sense of the main scene and, even without a clear fragmentation pattern or splash pattern on the pavement, I found a few clues that jointly suggest an arrival from the northwest. Windows are out on northwest and west sides. At least one shell hit here at the base of a tree at the NW corner, shredding its lower trunk upon an impacted mainly from the west, killing people in the marked zone only a bit to the east and mostly to the south. (I was briefly confused about which tree, circling 2, then Xing one out) I noticed a scorched spot on a wall with a clear edge, past which the tree blocked the detonation wave as it rolled forward on velocity (bottom right). I drew an approximate angle from that blast shadow back to the tree's far side, and then eyeballed that onto the satellite view, for the orange line there. It's probably not exact, but well fit to test.

DPR investigators don't show site images this time, maybe because too many were spots were too gory to show. They'll often show some key details with rulers, black-and-white poles and paper arrows showing the implied impact angle you can often see and confirm. But they presumably did their analysis here, and mapped the result as usual, in a Telegram post: 24.8km WNW around Oleksandropil' (Ukrainian occupied), using 152mm and 155mm shells. Here's their map with my reading copied on to compare. They're just a few degrees different. I'm sure their reading is better, but for the doubters, there's the visual evidence indicating the same - Ukraine launched a terror attack on innocent civilians and blatantly denied it. This is proven to be the case in virtually all of dozens, maybe over 100 cases I've checked out over the years. (see posts tagged Donetsk)

Zelenskyy says the Russians shelled their own here. Does he have information about their sneaking behind Ukrainian lines to do it? Some 75% of Donetsk shelling (est.) comes from this NW sector, and I don't think I've heard of one case where Ukrainian forces captured, documented, or even reported any such infiltrators. Obviously, this is because they don't exist. Ukraine does these terror attacks because their patrons have allow and tacitly encourage it, and keep on arming the terrorists ... so far anyway. It seems up in the air now, but from 2014 to recently their activities were fully supported with hardly any question or limits ever imposed, as their contra-factual claims were almost uniformly accepted.

Statement by Russian Ministery of Foreign Affairs https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1926834/

The neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, supported by the United States and its satellites, has committed yet another brutal terrorist act against the civilian population of Russia.

On the morning of January 21, armed units of Bandera’s followers deliberately targeted a market and shops in Tekstilshchik, a neighbourhood in the Kirovsky District of Donetsk, with multiple launch rocket systems. A total of six artillery rounds were fired at the busiest areas in town causing a large number of casualties. According to reports, at least 25 people were killed and 20 were injured.

This is an early statement, only having 25 deaths confirmed, and citing a wrong attack origin: "It was established that the shelling was coming from Avdeyevka" to the north. But what was established is what I show and confirm above, from Oleksandropil to the west-northwest. The statement also says:

"...the types of weapons supplied by the West were used. This is further confirmation of the Western countries’ direct involvement in the conflict, implicating them in the criminal acts committed by the Zelensky regime. This regime has once again demonstrated its inhuman nature and hatred for innocent people they are calling “species.” The leaders in Kiev are prepared to kill them mercilessly."

"Russia strongly condemns this treacherous attack on civilians. The West’s unrestrained desire to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia using their Ukrainian puppets to do the fighting, thoughtlessly supporting them without any limits, is pushing the Kiev regime to increasingly reckless steps, including terrorist attacks, massive violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes. Russia calls on all responsible governments and relevant international agencies to strongly condemn this brutal act of terrorism. Their silence would mean tacit approval of the murder of civilians and encourage Ukrainian neo-Nazis to commit even more terrible atrocities."

"The terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime clearly demonstrate that it has no political will for peace and the settlement of the conflict by diplomatic means."

"The need for achieving all the goals and objectives of Russia’s special military operation is obvious. No threats to security or acts of terrorism must be coming from the territory of Ukraine."

Now there's some heavy-handed propaganda. But keep in mind that propaganda can include as much truth as works for your case. And whatever you call them, the ballistic evidence says forces of the post-2014 US-proxy weapon-state of Ukrainian committed this crime against the Russian people trying to live on land that can only be "Ukraine." Meanwhile, hero of the world Zelenskyy, the only one standing up now to both Putin and Trump, and who just might be the second coming of Christ, once again said "Russia will be held accountable for all this terror" his own forces have been sowing for years. "It must be." Crowds roar in approval as they watch the terror and Russia's tab grow and grow.