LUGANSK, October 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has chosen war rather than taking a peaceful path to settling the Donbass conflict, head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said in his condolences message to the Donbass people in connection with the death of one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia Arsen Pavlov.

"All the attempted assassinations and explosions that took place here and the political killings in the DPR show that Ukraine, and (Ukrainian President Pyotr) Poroshenko in particular, judging from his previous statements, has chosen the path of war over the road to peace," the Luganskinformcenter news agency, quoted Plotnitsky as saying.

On the eve of October 16, one of the DPR’s militia leaders Arsen Pavlov, nicknamed Motorola, was killed in a blast that tore through the entrance to his apartment building in Donetsk.

Head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko stated that this murder had become "a challenge for the Republic." He held the Ukrainian secret services responsible for Pavlov’s death adding they were outlawed in the DPR, and also accused the Ukrainian president of "violating the ceasefire."