The "DPR" confirmed that the three missing on January 8 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and the militants have their bodies. This was stated by the so-called "deputy commander of the operational command" of the "DPR" Eduard Basurin, - separatist media report.
"On January 11, the DPR servicemen carried out the evacuation of three bodies of the Ukrainian military, 3 km southwest of the Oktyabr village. The bodies were found at a distance of 500 meters from the front edge of the defense of our units. The cause of death of the group was the undermining in a minefield", - he said.
According to him, two men died immediately after the explosion of OZM-72 (frag barrage mine), and the third soldier died of shrapnel wounds, "still being able to report about the incident to his commanders".
He said that the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen will soon be handed over to the Ukrainian side for the subsequent burial by their relatives.
As previously reported, the Defense Ministry said that the militants reported about the discovery of the bodies in uniform; however, there was no evidence that they were the bodies of the previously missing marines.
As reported earlier, on January 8, in the course of combat missions three Ukrainian military disappeared near the Mariupol demarcation line. They did not return to the location of the unit, and there was no communication with them. Media reported that relatives of the missing soldiers were reported of their deaths.