DONETSK (Sputnik) — Almost 4,000 civilians were killed and over 6,000 were injured so far on the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in the ongoing armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, the DPR defense spokesman said Thursday.
"As a result of ruthless shelling by the Ukrainian forces, 3,938 civilians, including 71 children and 580 women were killed [since the start of the conflict in 2014]," Eduard Basurin told a news conference in Donetsk.
"Some 6,169 people were injured," he said adding that the fighting destroyed over 10,000 homes and infrastructure facilities in the DPR
According to Basurin, in the period from February to December 2015 alone, Kiev-led forces shelled the DPR territory 9,409 times, including 4,534 attacks by mortars, 1,068 artillery strikes and 238 attacks by multiple-rocket launchers.