Thirteen Killed, 11 Injured in Donetsk People's Republic in One Week

12 servicemen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and one civilian were killed, while 11 people were injured as a result of shelling between March 10 and March 16, according to a spokesperson for the DPR ombudsman.

DONETSK (Sputnik) — A total of 13 people were killed and 11 injured in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine as a result of shelling between March 10 and March 16, a spokesperson for the DPR ombudsman said Saturday.

"From March 10 to March 16, eleven people, including one woman, five men and five servicemen, received injuries of varying severity on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic as a result of incessant artillery shelling from Ukraine. In the same period, 12 servicemen of the republic and one civilian were killed," the spokesperson told journalists.

The spokesperson added that 79 people had been killed and over 130 injured between January 1 and March 16.

Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.

A peace agreement was signed in February 2015 between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital, Mink. Despite this fact, the agreement has been repeatedly violated, with the conflict escalating near the southeastern Ukrainian towns of Avdiivka and neighboring Yasynuvata in late January 2016.