7 Ukraine forces die in landmine explosion

A truck carrying Ukrainian troopers has gone over a landmine in the country’s east, killing seven soldiers.

Military spokesman Yevgen Silkin said the incident occurred about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Donetsk, which pro-Russia fighters -- who are in their 14th month of fighting the Ukrainian military -- have called their capital.

The roads in this area are mined by the pro-Russia fighters, military spokesman Yevgen Silkin said.

Silkin said the incident occurred outside the 16,000-strong town of Krasnogorivka, next to another town called Marinka, where heavy fighting claimed more than 20 lives last week.

Civilians have also been caught up in the conflict’s crossfire, with vehicles being hit by stray shells and artillery fire on several occasions. More than a dozen civilians were killed in January when their bus was sprayed by shrapnel from a missile that Kiev said was launched by pro-Russians.

The Ukrainian crisis began in 2014 when pro-European Union (EU) forces, including Western-backed radical nationalists, ousted then Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, after he refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU.

According to UN figures released on June 1, the hostilities in Ukraine have left at least 6,417 people dead and 15,962 wounded.

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