DONETSK, August 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Eight self-defense fighters were wounded in a mine explosion in east Ukraine’s Donetsk, the mayor’s office said on Tuesday.

The mine went off on Monday night when a group of self-defense fighters was passing by, the mayor’s office said.

Shootouts were also heard in other districts of the city during the night. A transformer substation was damaged during the fighting between the local self-defense militia and the Ukrainian army, leaving 50 apartment buildings without electricity.

A bus station that had been the scene of fighting on Monday resumed its work on Tuesday, the mayor’s office said.

Meanwhile, the self-defense militia inflicted damage on the Ukrainian military on the north-eastern outskirts of the town of Shakhtyorsk near Donetsk on Monday, the headquarters of the Donetsk People’s Republic said on Tuesday.

“The first and second Slavic battalions and the Kalmius special battalion enjoying the support of a combined artillery battalion destroyed at least three pieces of the armor, a mortar unit, a self-propelled artillery gun and an artillery correction team of the Ukrainian military,” the militia headquarters said.

Meanwhile, the enemy subjected residential quarters in the town to intensive fire, the militia headquarters said.

“Many facilities have been destroyed and there are victims among civilians,” the headquarters said.

Updated information has been received about the militia’s artillery strike against the enemy positions near the settlement of Metallist, the headquarters said.

“Our fire has destroyed a warehouse of phosphorus ammunition, one tank and one armed personnel carrier, as well as 25 enemy soldiers who were killed mostly by the warehouse explosion,” the headquarters said.

A large number of the Ukrainian army’s tanks and mechanized infantry attacked the settlement of Dmitrovka south of the town of Snezhnoye in the first half of the day on Monday, seeking to break through to the grouping surrounded by self-defense fighters in the settlement of Dyakovka, the militia headquarters said.

“The militia’s anti-tank guided missile fire has destroyed three enemy tanks and one APC. After this, the enemy attack force tried to bypass the militia’s positons via the settlement of Kozhevnya but was repelled by artillery fire. Most of the enemy armor and motor vehicles had been destroyed by the evening,” the militia headquarters said.

Also, the Ukrainian National Guard launched several attacks on self-defense fighters with the support of tanks in the area of the settlement of Maryinka west of Donetsk, the militia headquarters said.

“The enemy has lost up to a platoon of soldiers both killed and wounded. The militia has destroyed three tanks, one infantry fighting vehicle and a truck with ammunition. Currently, the enemy is concentrating large National Guard forces on the southern outskirts of Donetsk,” the militia headquarters said.

Also, a terrorist act was carried out near a militia garrison in Donetsk, the headquarters said.

“Three self-defense fighters received medium-gravity wounds from the explosion of a radio-controlled bomb. Battles also continued in the area of the towns of Gorlovka and Uglegorsk. Data on the fighting will be available later. The town of Yenakiyevo was subjected to fierce rocket and artillery enemy fire,” the militia headquarters said.

Pro-Kiev troops and local militias in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

During the military operation, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s embattled east.