KIEV, October 14 (RIA Novosti) – A major coal mine has been shelled in southeastern Ukraine for four days in a row, the department of public relations of the DTEK energy company said in a statement Tuesday.
"The [DTEK Komsomolets Donbassa] mine has been shelled for four days already. From tanks, artillery weapons and mortars," the statement said, adding that miners took shelter in "defensive structures" as "massive shelling" occurred.
Miners cannot resume their work amid constant shelling, DTEK stressed. If the thermal power stations that DTEK supplies, especially the Kryvorizka TPP and the Prydniprovska TPP, are left without coal, the entire Dnipropetrovsk region, and several neighboring regions, could be left without electricity.
According to DTEK, 60 settlements in the Donetsk region remain without electricity as a result of continuing fighting in the area.
On Monday, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) released a report, saying that shelling continues in Donetsk and Luhansk regions despite the ceasefire agreement reached between Kiev forces and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
On September 5 a ceasefire agreement was signed between the two sides at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Both independence supporters and Kiev forces have subsequently accused each other of violating the truce.
Almost 3,700 people have been killed and over 8,800 have been wounded as a result of the armed conflict in Ukraine, according to the latest UN estimates.
