Donetsk being cleared of Ukrainian mines banned by Geneva Convention
Ukrainian PFM-1 mines were scattered across the streets, threatening civilians.
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PFM-1 anti-personnel mines - or "butterfly" mines - may not be fatal, but can disable one for life
Central Donetsk is undergoing some mine clearance works, according to the TASS news agency. Russian bomb specialists and rescuers from Donetsk are using specialized Uran-6 robots to carry out the mission.
According to earlier reports, Ukrainian troops used prohibited anti-personnel mines of the Lepestok type against civilian targets. The mines were scattered across central streets in the city by means of rockets with cluster warheads.
Ukraine: The Ministry of Emergency Situations recommends residents of Donetsk and Makeyevka to stay at home because of mines scattered on the streets. Sappers are working. pic.twitter.com/D4GkLFJEnJ
— Andrejs Eglitis (@falconnestorg) July 31, 2022
One rescuer from the DPR was wounded, according to Alexey Kulemzin, the city's mayor.
On Saturday, the speaker of the DPR's legislature, Vladimir Bidyovka, condemned the use of the mines in Ukraine as an act of terrorism.
Bidyovka recalled that using such mines without a self-destructing mechanism was prohibited by the Geneva Convention of 1996 - Russia has removed such mines from its operational use whereas Ukraine continues to use them.
Cluster munition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine scattered petal mines near a school in Donetsk
— Diana Dyankova-Atana (@dianilina2015) July 30, 2022
"Ukrainian militants launched a missile attack on the Kirovsky district of the city, scattering prohibited anti-personnel mines PMF-1" Petal "of pressure action. pic.twitter.com/OfwNwUTMhU
On Sunday, Ukrainian troops bombed the city of Makeyevka in the Donetsk People's Republic using Uragan multiple rocket launch systems loaded with Lepestok anti-personnel mines, according to the DPR's territorial defense headquarters.
"Ukrainian troops scattered prohibited PFM-1 landmines from Uragan multiple rocket launch systems in Makeyevka’s Kirovsky district," it said, adding that such mines were also found in the field near the city.
Tanks being used in unusual role to clear the streets of the center of Donetsk from PMF-1 anti-personnel mines scattered by Ukraine with MLRS pic.twitter.com/yk44Up64Vx
— resistance axis (@Russian35020800) July 30, 2022
Yesterday, Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his government was ordering the mandatory evacuation of people who were still in eastern Donetsk after which Kiev began its shelling campaign in the region.
Yesterday, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Territorial Defense Headquarters reported the death of eight people and the injury of 15 after Kiev's forces shelled the city of Donetsk.
"Over the past 24 hours, from 08:00 on July 29 to 08:00 on July 30, eight people were killed and 15 more civilians were wounded as a result of shelling by the AFU [armed formations of Ukraine] on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic," the DPR headquarters said on Telegram.
In the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces shelled the Donetsk People's Republic 75 times, firing 632 shells, 15 of which targeted the city of Donetsk, according to the DNR mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in the Kherson region was also shelled by the Ukrainian forces using the HIMARS missile system, the head of the city's military-civilian administration, Vladimir Leontyev, said on Saturday. However, he added, the strike was repelled and did not affect the HPP's operation.
![Service members of pro-Russian troops drive a tank near Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]](http://media-en.almayadeen.net/archive/image/2022/8/17/dabef280-a907-4c97-b399-ebb64277aba7/2.jpg?v=2&format=webp "Service members of pro-Russian troops drive a tank near Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]")
