Kiev Gives Own Version Of Child's Death In Donbas, Says Victim Found Explosive In Yard

The authorities in Kiev believe that the death of a pre-school child near Donetsk was caused by an explosive device found in the yard, Oleksiy Arestovich, information policy counselor of Ukraine's contact group on Donbas, said on Thursday

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2021) The authorities in Kiev believe that the death of a pre-school child near Donetsk was caused by an explosive device found in the yard, Oleksiy Arestovich, information policy counselor of Ukraine's contact group on Donbas, said on Thursday.

On April 3, people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) reported that a pre-school child was killed and a woman was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in Oleksandrivske near Donetsk. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that he had no verified information concerning the incident, but "had no reason to doubt that the information provided by the self-proclaimed republics on these matters is true."

The OSCE special monitoring mission later said that it would continue investigating the circumstances of the child's death. Kiev has denied sending the drone to the area noting that the Ukrainian military strictly adheres to the ceasefire regulations, including the ban on the use of any types of aircraft.

"According to our version, the child died from an explosive device that he had found in the yard. This indicates that the Russian side, that has not only occupied our land, by throws dangerous explosive devices there, whether standard or non-standard, causing deaths of Ukrainian citizens, including the 5-year-old child," Arestovich said as aired by Hromadske Radio.

At the same time, he noted that the death of the child and the injury of the woman will be discussed at the next meeting of the trilateral contact group on April 13-14.

Earlier this week, the first deputy head of the ministry of information of the self-proclaimed DPR, Daniil Bessonov said that Ukraine continued to pull military equipment to Donbas for a potential offensive it may launch in late April, as soon as the weather conditions permit

The conflict in the breakaway eastern region of Ukraine broke out in 2014, when Kiev launched an offensive against the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, conventionally referred to together as Donbas, after they proclaimed independence. Their decision came in response to what they considered a coup in Kiev that toppled the old government in February of that year.

The conflict has since been mediated by the so-called Normandy Format, including Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany. In February 2015, Normandy leaders held talks in Minsk that resulted in an agreement to stop the fighting and seek a long-term political resolution to the conflict. During a Normandy summit in Paris in late 2019, all sides agreed that the Minsk agreements remained the basis of the Donbas conflict resolution.