Three civilians killed in eastern Ukraine landmine blast

Three civilians have been killed and two others injured when a passenger minibus leaving the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic struck a landmine in eastern Ukraine.

Authorities in Kiev said the vehicle carrying five passengers hit the landmine near the village of Novomykhailivka, some 25 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, on Wednesday.

"Two civilians died at the scene and one more passed away in the ambulance car on the way to a hospital," Kiev military spokesman, Andriy Zadubinnyi, told AFP.

The blast occurred just a few hundred meters away from a Ukrainian checkpoint with reports saying the bus driver ignored mine warning signs and drove out onto a field where the blast occurred.

The Donetsk republic’s Defense Ministry has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s forces have "totally" mined their own positions and checkpoints.

Official data provided by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says several dozen civilians in the eastern Donbass region have stepped on mines over the past year.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of involvement in the deadly crisis in east Ukraine, but Moscow vehemently denies the allegation.

Over 9,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict since Kiev launched military operations in the east in April 2014 to crush pro-Russia protests.

A fragile truce, dubbed Minsk II, which was signed in the Belorussian capital city of Minsk in February 2015 between Kiev and representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk, has been broken on an almost daily basis.

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