Buhas bus attack

Volnovakha bus attack
Part of the War in Donbass
Location of Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine
Buhas checkpoint Buhas checkpoint (Donetsk Oblast)
Location	Donetsk–Mariupol road (H20) at Buhas, near Volnovakha Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Coordinates	47°36′45.4″N 37°31′45.5″E / 47.612611°N 37.529306°E / 47.612611; 37.529306
Date	13 January 2015 c. 14:30 EET (UTC+2)
Target	Buhas checkpoint
Attack type	Rocket strike
Weapons	MRL BM-21 Grad
Deaths	12
Non-fatal injuries	18
Suspected perpetrators	Donetsk People's Republic
Motive	attack on fortified facilities

The Volnovakha bus attack was an attack on a highway checkpoint near the village of Buhas outside of the Volnovakha municipality in the Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 13 January 2015. It resulted in the deaths of 12 passengers of an intercity bus and injuries to 18 others in the area. The attack was the largest single loss of life since the signing of the in September 2014, which attempted to halt the ongoing War in Donbass. The incident has been labeled an "act of terror" by both the Ukrainian authorities as well as the rebels.

Initially, separatists took responsibility for this incident, which they thought was a successful destruction of the Ukrainian roadblock. After the information about civilian bus hit the news, they denied having "even technical possibilities" to shell that area.OSCE Special Monitoring Mission inspecting the place of incident assessed from its study of five craters that they were caused by "rockets fired from a north-north-eastern direction".

The checkpoint named "Buhas" is located on the H20 highway at the intersection with another road accessing the city of Volnovakha. Beside Buhas and Volnovakha, there also is a village of Blyzhnie.

On 13 January, a bus was carrying civilians moving northward to Donetsk from the village of Zlatoustivka (Zlatoustovka) and passing a small city of Volnovakha on the Donetsk-Mariupol road (H20 highway). Approaching the zone controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic, the bus stopped at the checkpoint for passport control. Soon thereafter the checkpoint was fired upon with multiple hits on which landed next to the line of vehicles in which bus was located. Shrapnel from the round torn the bus through completely disabling, while killing and injuring several passengers. Ten people perished on site, while two more died soon after were brought to hospital of Volnovakha.

Video from a tower camera near the checkpoint shows number of explosions just north of the checkpoint, while another video from a private car that was in the line at checkpoint shows an explosion right next to the road. At same time in internet started to circulate photos that the checkpoint could have been set with mines.