Militants in Donbas Continue the Mining of Territories

Observers from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission recorded hundreds of mines planted by Russian-backed militants in violation of a number of international agreements near the town Nyzhne Lozove in the Donetsk region.

This was reported by the press service of the Joint Forces Operations Headquarters with reference to the report of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine № 239/2020 dated 7 October 2020.

“On 4 October, in the fields near the town Nyzhne Lozove, a drone of the Special Monitoring Mission again recorded a total of 225 anti-tank mines installed in several places,” the statement said.

The Ukrainian military notes that these facts indicate violations of a number of international agreements by the Russian occupation forces, including the use of specific weapons, banning or restricting the use of mines, traps and other devices,; banning the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines, etc.

“In violation of international agreements and commitments under the Minsk process, the Russian occupation forces continue to conduct remote mining operations in areas adjacent to the positions of the Joint Forces and engineering equipment positions,” the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said.

At the same time, it was reported that a local woman and her 11-year-old son had been blown up by an explosive device in the occupied Luhansk region. Doctors amputated the woman’s leg, and the boy received eye injuries. The tragedy occurred on 28 September in a field near Zoloty-5 (Mykhailivka), where a woman was looking for her cow with her son and daughter.

The Press Service of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters drew the attention of the civilian population to the need to increase vigilance when moving in the areas of the Joint Forces Operation.

It should be recalled that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission recently also recorded a number of violations by militants in Donbas, who are expanding minefields. Then,the OSCE drone spotted 14 anti-tank mines in the Donetsk region and another 8 in Luhansk.

Bohdan Marusyak