Ukrainian Infantry Fighting Vehicle Destroyed By Own Landmine In Eastern Ukraine

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An infantry fighting vehicle of the Ukrainian military was destroyed in eastern Ukraine on March 6^th.

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and three more were injured as a result of the infantry fighting vehicle being blown up on an unknown explosive device.

One more Ukrainian soldier was wounded, reportedly as a result of shelling by the Luhansk People’s Militia.

According to Luhansk People’s Republic official information, it turned out later that the lieutenant of the 93rd mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmitry Borisovich Firsov was the casualty.

It is noteworthy that the victim was a native of the city of Donetsk, but since 2014 he fought against his own countrymen, first in the ranks of the Nazi-infested volunteer battalion “Donbass”, and then as part of the armed forces of Ukraine.

Furthermore, the Ukrainian Armed Forces somewhat frequently lose equipment and people by stepping on their own landmines. Often this information is hidden from the Ukrainian public, earlier the LPR reported that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on its territory were concealed by Kiev.

The prosecutor’s office located in the Kiev-controlled part of the Luhansk People’s Republic published its own data on the number of killed and wounded Ukrainian military.

Since the beginning of 2020, only on the territory of the LPR 30 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 63 were wounded.

Initially, this message was published on the official website of the organization, and subsequently duplicated on its official page on the social network Facebook. It is noteworthy that the Ukrainian side tried to hide information about the losses, after its publication. The message was deleted from the website of the prosecutor’s office of the Lugansk region, but was saved on social networks.

Note that the data on losses of the Armed Forces since the beginning of the year is significantly lower than the published number of dead and wounded.

Thus, according to information from open sources, since the beginning of the year, 28 Ukrainian security officials have died in Eastern Ukraine, of which only 13 in the LPR. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hiding their real losses is commonplace since 2014.

The increased casualties are a result of Kiev’s recent actions, in the form of an attempt to occupy the so-called “grey zone” –  the neutral strip between the positions of the Armed Forces and the People’s Militia of Luhansk and Donetsk.

It was in the LPR, in the Zolotoy district, where the separation of the sides took place in the fall, and Kiev provoked a local escalation of hostilities.

Between January 9^th and February 18^th, servicemen of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, gaining a foothold in the neutral zone, tried to oust the militias from their positions.

This ended in an unsuccessful battle for the Ukrainian side, during which the body of one of the victims was left to the LPR People’s Militia.

In addition, the Ukrainian Armed Forces troops abandoned their machine guns, and heavier equipment while fleeing.

Officially, Kiev reported that one soldier had been killed and four had been injured, but that number could be understated and like is.

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