DONETSK, October 17. /TASS/. Three days of mourning have been declared in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in the wake of the murder of Arseny Pavlov, a DPR militia leader also known as Motorola, a source in the administration of DPR head, Alexander Zakharchenko, said on Monday.

"Under a decree issued by the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic on October 17, 2016, a three-day mourning has been declared in DPR (from October 17 to October 19) after the death of DPR hero, Colonel Arseny Pavlov," the Donetsk News Agency quotes him as saying.

Arseny Pavlov was killed in the evening on October 16 as an explosive device went off in a Donetsk residential house.

DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko noted that the murder was "a challenge to the entire republic." He put the blame for Pavlov’s death on Ukrainian intelligence services officers who, according to Zakharchenko, "are on the DPR territory illegally" and accused the Ukrainian president of "violating the truce.".