One civilian was killed, and another was wounded in a landmine explosion while riding a motorcycle in the village of Verbivka, Kharkiv Oblast, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Feb. 6.
The law enforcement officers opened a pre-trial investigation over violations of the laws and customs of war, the report stated.
On Feb. 3, seven teenagers aged 14-17 received shrapnel wounds after the PFM anti-personnel landmine exploded in Izium, southeast of Kharkiv, according to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been regularly killed or injured by detonations of Russian mines, according to reports by local officials.
Ukraine liberated the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast in the fall of 2022 during its surprise counteroffensive campaign.
Some 250,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian land – nearly 40% of all country's territory – have been mined since Russia's full-scale invasion last year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the South Korean news agency Yonhap. on Jan. 8.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said that Russia's "mine terror" will have to be resisted for many years.
