KIEV, February 10./TASS/. Three people were killed when a minivan carrying civilians was blown up by a landmine at a Ukrainian checkpoint near the contact line early on Wednesday, the speaker of the Donbass special operation, Andrey Zadubinny, has said.

"There were five people in the Volkswagen Transporter car (minivan) that struck a mine this morning at the Novomikhailovka checkpoint. Two were killed at the scene and another one died on the way to a hospital," Zadubinny said.

The speaker said the minivan had arrived from the territory not controlled by Kiev. "It tried to bypass a line 600 meters from the checkpoint having ignored all the road signs and hit a mine," he said.

Ukraine’s national police in the Donetsk region have confirmed the fact.

A source in the law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic earlier told the Donetsk news agency that a bus carrying civilians hit a landmine at a Ukrainian checkpoint near the contact line. Three people were killed according to preliminary data.

A family of three was also injured in a Tavria car that was hit by the bus window shatters. "A man was wounded in the neck, and a woman and a child were contused," the source told the Donetsk news agency.

The car driver was sent to a city hospital as "the Ukrainian side had refused to provide first medical assistance to the victim," he said.