Mariupol attack carried out by Russian artillery battery — Ukraine’s security chief

The shelling of Mariupol was carried out by a Russian artillery battery, led by a Russian officer known by the nom de guerre Pepel, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

He described the shelling of Mariupol as a crime against humanity, and also exhibited a video testimony given by the detained artillery controller Sergei Kirsanov, who said that Russian officer Alexander, with the nom de guerre of Pepel, commanded the Russian artillery battery which carried out the shelling.

«At 0730 on January 24 came the order from the Russian officer who led the militant artillery battery. There were a total of five shelling attacks... Until 14.20 they were adjusting fire. At 14.20, why did they stop shelling Mariupol civilians? Because they had received information that the OSCE mission had gone to the Novoazovsk district from which the Russian artillery was clearly operating,» said Nalyvaichenko, citing the video testimony given by Kirsanov.

Nalyvaichenko stressed that multiple rocket launchers and Tyulpan (Tulip) mortars were hidden in the village of Markyne, Donetsk region.

After the shelling, Russian artillery battalions received a direct command through a satellite communication system to go to the Russian border and take four Grads, which were used, and a Tyulpan (Tulip) mortar with them, Nalyvaichenko said.

Earlier, the SBU press center reported that the counterintelligence service intercepted a conversation by DPR terrorist leaders, who said they planned to carry out the shelling of Mariupol. In this conversation, a DPR militant gives a command from Donetsk to use multiple rocket launchers against civilians in Mariupol, and his accomplice Pepel says he would comply with the order to the shell a densely populated residential area of the city, and then reports the result.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine