DONETSK, February 19. /TASS/. The Kiev government forces opened fire at TV journalists and representatives of the Donetsk militia at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), although they knew whom they were attacking, Deputy Head of the People’s Militia in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Eduard Basurin said on Saturday.
"During an effort to put on record the consequences of a sabotage attack at the Vasilyevskaya pumping station, the enemy opened fire at the location, where members of DPR People’s Militia’s JCCC mission and TV crews were staying at that point," Basurin said.
In his words, the attack was "particularly cynical," because "militants of Ukrainian armed groups were perfectly aware of who they were shooting at." "They used a drone to correct fire."
He blamed the sabotage attack, which damaged a pumping station and an electrical substation, on militants of the radical Right Sector group (outlawed in Russia). As a result of the attack, the Donetsk water filtration plant, which supplies water to over 40 cities, towns and villages, had to switch to the reserve mode of operation.
Basurin did not specify the media outlets, whose crews came under fire. However, Russia’s RT Arabic television said on its website that its crew was under attack in Donetsk People’s Republic.