LUHANSK. Sept 27 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire on the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) almost 20 times over the past week, Yakov Osadchiy, the head of the press service for the People's Militia, said.
One LPR militiaman was killed in one of the attacks, he said.
"Ukrainian military units breached the ceasefire 19 times over the period of the past week. The enemy used 82-mm mortars, various types of grenade launchers, anti-tank guided missiles, artillery of 122 and 152 mm caliber, infantry fighting vehicles, large-caliber weapons, and small arms," Osadchiy told reporters on Friday.
The areas near the populated localities of Lozove, Logvinove, Kalinovka, Chernukhino, Donetsky, Frunze, and Krasny Yar were attacked by Ukraine, he said. "An LPR militiaman was killed in the attack on the populated area of Donetsky," Osadchiy said.
"The attacks on populated areas have been documented, the materials have been provided to representatives of international organizations that are present in the republic, and also to the LPR Prosecutor General's Office for criminal cases to be opened against the commanders of three brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Osadchiy said.
He also told journalists that over 1,000 Ukrainian troops have died as a result of mine explosions near the contact line in Donbas since 2014.
"All in all, 659 mines have detonated since 2014, 1,070 people have been killed and 128 units of equipment were destroyed," Osadchiy said.
According to a report compiled by the military prosecutor of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) to JFO Commander-in-Chief Serhiy Kravchenko, seen by the LPR militia, "31 instances of triggering their own mines have been registered" in Ukrainian military units in the military action area since the start of this year. "Forty-nine people were killed and nine pieces of equipment were destroyed in these instances," the report said.
The main reasons why Ukrainian troops hit mines in Donbas are the absence of maps of minefields and the absence of control from the Ukrainian command over the work of engineering services and engineering units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Osadchiy said.