OREANDA-NEWS. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) are actively strengthening their combat positions in the Donbass, as well as building new ones and mining the nearby territory. A message about this appeared on the Facebook page of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

According to the ministry, in recent days, the militias have stepped up engineering and technical work near the demarcation line, began to restore previously abandoned lines and build false ones using mock-ups of equipment and weapons.

Intelligence believes that these actions indicate the preparation of Donetsk and Lugansk for battle. "The enemy expands the boundaries of areas for the deployment of equipment and weapons, sets up new mine-explosive barriers around them using anti-tank and anti-personnel mines PFM-1, POM-2, PMN-2, MOP-50, OZM-72, prohibited by international conventions," - the message says.

Earlier it became known that the Ukrainian military fired at the western outskirts of Donetsk from heavy artillery, which caused an 11-year-old girl and several other civilians to be wounded. On the fact of the incident, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the ill-treatment of civilians and the use of prohibited weapons (part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).