DONETSK, December 12. /TASS/. Almost 4,400 residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), including 132 children, have been killed in the Ukrainian army’s bombardments since the escalation in February, the DPR mission to the Joint Control and Coordination Center on Ukraine’s War Crimes reported on Monday.
"Over the 298 days of the escalation, 4,376 civilians, including 132 children, have lost their lives. As many as 2,247 civilians, including 153 children, have suffered wounds of various degree of severity on the territory within the boundaries before the start of the special military operation," the mission said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
As many as 87 civilians, including four children, suffered from stepping on PFM-1 Lepestok anti-personnel mines scattered by the Ukrainian military in its bombardments of DPR territory with cluster munitions. One of the civilians hurt in the explosion died of wounds in a hospital, the mission said.
In all, the Ukrainian military has shelled DPR populated areas over 13,000 times since the escalation, firing a total of 88,000 munitions, including 32 Tochka-U ballistic missiles and 135 HIMARS rockets. In addition, the Ukrainian military fired almost 12,000 Grad rockets and more than 15,000 NATO caliber shells against DPR territory, it said.