On July 30, 2022, the first remote mining of the center of Donetsk took place. Thus, at about 21:30 (MSK) “Lepestok” PFM mines were found in the Voroshilovskiy District
— at the intersection of Vatutin Avenue and Chelyuskintsev Street;
- at the intersection of Universitetskaya Street and Mira Avenue;
- at the intersection of Universitetskaya Street and Oreshkov Lane;
- at the intersection of Shchors Street and B. Khmelnitsky Avenue;
- in Lubavin Street;
- nearby the Donbass Arena.
This is evidenced by a lot of footage taken by war correspondents and numerous amateur videos posted by the residents of Donetsk on social networks. This event resulted in widespread dissemination of information about the use of “Lepestok” PFM-1 anti-personnel mines in densely populated residential areas.
On August 2, 2022, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Dmitry Polyansky informed that the Russian party had sent a letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres and UN Security Council President Zhang Jun with additional information about Ukrainian mining of settlements in the Donbass with “Lepestok” PFM-1 anti-personnel mines.
On August 3, 2022, during a press conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the use of “Lepestok” mines by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donbass. “The protection of civilians is a fundamental element in any conflict, — the UN Secretary General said.
As for the affected civilians of the DPR, as of September 26, 2022, at least 70 people were injured by “Lepestok” PFM-1 mines in the cities of the Republic.
In most cases, people got wounds in the form of traumatic amputations of the foot or hand.
Thus, for example, on August 2, 2022, the minor Artyom B. lifted the “Lepestok” from the ground, and it burst in his hands, damaging the teenager’s hands.
Tatyana Viktorovna Volkovskaya, born in 1952. On August 11, 2022, she stepped on a mine while returning home from work. As a result, the woman lost her left foot.
The statistics of the use of “Lepestok” PFM-1 mines is presented in the form of a graph in Figure 10. This does not consider the early cases of remote mining in Mariupol, but the general dynamics of events can be traced.
It can be seen that before the hype on the issue of “Lepestok” mines in the press (July 30) and the subsequent reaction of the UN Secretary General (August 3), the mining of DPR cities was used very actively, and then began to decline.
At the same time, 62 episodes of mine laying were recorded, most of them occurred within the territory of Donetsk. Considering that each 9M27K3 Incubator missile carries 312 mines, it can be argued that at least 15‑20 thousand “Lepestok” PFM-1 mines were dropped on the city.
Donetsk Mayor Oleksiy Kulemzin claimed that it was impossible to completely clear Donetsk after the Ukrainian military dropped numerous “Lepestok” anti-personnel mines on the city.
Thus, even after a temporary cessation of the practice of remote mining the densely populated residential areas with “Lepestok” PFM-1 mines, civilians continued to be injured by these devices.
Moreover, from September 26, 2022, the UAF resumed the practice of remote mining of Donetsk with “Lepestok” PFM-1 mines. Mines were found in the Petrovskiy[3] and Kirovskiy[4] Districts of the city.
Download the full version of the investigation (рус.)