REUTERS

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine says that 23 children have been injured or killed in the war in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in 2018 alone.

"The OSCE SMM is saddened by the news that three children were killed and two injured this weekend in eastern Ukraine. At least 23 kids already injured/killed in 2018 alone. Children continue to be the victims of the ongoing conflict," the OSCE SMM tweeted on October 1.

As UNIAN reported, three teenagers were killed and one was badly wounded in a landmine explosion outside the Russian-occupied town of Horlivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on September 30.

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Read alsoThree teens killed, another wounded in landmine blast near Russian-occupied Horlivka

According to human rights activists, the youngest of the children, Dmytro Tulup, born in 2008, is in hospital with shrapnel wounds of the whole body.

"Our sources shared information about the dead children: Kyrylo Korobov, a student of grade 7, Andriy Maksymenko, 13 years old, and Vitaliy Berbinov, a student of grade 8," the human rights activists said.

In this regard, the Embassy of the United States of America in Ukraine has called on Russia to influence Russian-led forces to demine the occupied areas of Donbas in connection with the death of three teenagers in Horlivka in a landmine explosion.