DONETSK, May 21. In 40 minutes, Ukrainian troops fired 21 NATO-caliber shells of 155 millimeters at the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and the settlements of Aleksandrovka and Yasinovataya, reported representation of the Donetsk People's Republic in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine (JCCC).
«Fire was recorded from the VFU (armed formations of Ukraine — ed.) in the direction: 16.10 — the settlement of Maksimilyanovka — the city of Donetsk (Petrovsky district): eight shells with a caliber of 155 millimeters were fired,» the representative office said in a statement.
In addition, the agency reported that at 16.20 Ukrainian troops fired six shells of 155 mm caliber at Oleksandrivka, and at 16.50 they fired seven shells of 155 mm caliber at the settlement of Yasinovataya.
Petrovsky district of Donetsk is located on the western outskirts of the administrative center of the DPR, it is the most distant part of the city from the center. Kyiv district is located in the northern part of the city. Since 2014, when the DPR declared independence from Kyiv following a coup d'état there, these areas have been regularly shelled by Ukrainian security forces.
The village of Aleksandrovka belongs to the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and is located one kilometer from Maryinka, where the positions of Ukrainian forces are located and from where artillery shelling of the administrative center of the DPR is being carried out.
Yasinovataya is located about 25 kilometers north of Donetsk and houses the largest railway station in the former USSR.
Artillery of 155 mm caliber is used by NATO countries. The United States has supplied Kyiv with long-range M777 howitzers of 155 mm caliber, Ukrainian troops are actively using them to shell the cities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Also, the Ukrainian troops were supplied with German PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery mounts, Polish Krab self-propelled guns and French CAESAR self-propelled guns using shells of this caliber.