The residents of Donbass have been living in the climate of unceasing war for seven years. The armed forces of Ukraine use heavy artillery, mortars and small arms. The fact that Ukrainian military use anti-personnel mines, which are prohibited by international treaties, is causing particular concern, spokesman for the DPR People’s Militia Directorate Colonel Eduard Basurin gave a detailed account of that during the briefing on August 6 in Donetsk.
“The armed forces of Ukraine regularly use anti-personnel mines in the territory of Donbass, thus violating international law and the obligations the state assumed.
During mine clearance works at the forward edge of the battle area, engineer units of the People’s Militia and EMERCOM of the republics found and disposed 114 explosive items. At the request of the DPR Prosecutor General’s Office, some of the disposed mines have been identified. The information obtained directly indicates that the anti-personnel mines belonged to the armed forces of Ukraine,” the colonel said.
Eduard Basurin also noted that the laying of anti-personnel mines is regularly noted in OSCE SMM reports.
“By using anti-personnel mines indiscriminately, Ukrainian military directly endanger the lives and health not only of civilians, but also of the Ukrainian military themselves, who are regularly trip mines that their predecessors planted and did not draw on minefield maps.
As an expression of our commitment to the principles of international humanitarian law and to the agreements reached during the Minsk negotiation process, the Donetsk People’s Republic calls on the international community and the guarantor countries of the Minsk Agreements to involve all available means to de-escalate the conflict, not to let Ukrainian armed groups commit intentional crimes against civilians and bring to justice those responsible for the war crimes committed in the territory of Donbass,» Eduard Basurin concluded.
