Donetsk, Jan 19 – DAN. DPR Prosecutor General’s Office filed a criminal case against the Ukrainian army officer responsible for 15 January Gorlovka shelling in which a child was injured.

“Criminal proceedings were instituted against Colonel Vyacheslav Vlasenko, commander of 46th separate special forces battalion Donbass-Ukraine, and other persons over terrorist acts in collusion resulting in grave consequences and waging a war of aggression, under DPR Criminal Code Articles 229, Part 2 and 423, part 2,” head of the PGO investigation department Roman Belous told Donetsk News Agency on Thursday.

It was Vlasenko, who issued the order to shell Gorlovka on Sunday, Belous said. PGO investigators are gathering and recording evidence of the Ukrainian strike in which a 3-year-old boy was injured.

Kirill Mironenko, 3, was injured as Ukrainian forces shelled Dolomitnoye neighbourhood north of Gorlovka on 15 January. The boy’s mother said their house had taken a direct hit and that Kirill’s seven-year-old brother had suffered a severe psychological trauma. *jk