13:16 08.11.2014

OSCE mission draws up report on Donetsk school shelling in which 2 teenagers killed

3 min read
OSCE mission draws up report on Donetsk school shelling in which 2 teenagers killed

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has drawn up a report after visiting the scene of the death of two teenagers at a Donetsk school, in which it indicated that the school had been shelled from the northwestern direction.

"On November 6, 2014, at 08:25, the SMM arrived at School No. 63 on Stepanenko Street, Donetsk, about three kilometers north-west of the city center," the document says.

"The SMM saw a football pitch on the east side of the school, enclosed by steel mesh fencing; shrapnel damage to the pitch, fencing and goal posts; and, on the northern edge of the pitch, one meter from the fence, a shell crater, which was one meter in diameter," it said.

The SMM members could not enter the school building itself, as it was locked.

A number of people present in the area interviewed by the SMM members confirmed that two children had been killed and four children and an adult had been seriously wounded by an artillery shell the previous day. "They said they did not know any further details about the victims," the report says.

"One man interviewed by the SMM said that he had been undertaking repairs in the school building at the time of the shelling. He said that it occurred on November 5 at 15:30, and counted eight explosions. According to him the first two occurred in quick succession. The other six occurred within five minutes of the first," the report says.

All craters seen by the SMM in the area were about one meter in diameter, and their depths varied, the report says. "The SMM's analysis indicates that at least four of the craters were caused by 120mm mortar shells and two others were the result of 122mm artillery rounds," it says.

"In the SMM's assessment, all of these were fired from a location north-west of the football pitch and were the result of high-angle fire," it says.

It was reported earlier that two teenagers had been killed and four others injured as the sports ground of school No. 63 in Donetsk had been shelled. The city council reported that three people had been injured.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the National Security and Defense Council insisted that the artillery rounds had been fired from territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, while militants placed the blame for the school's shelling on Ukrainian government forces.

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