Boys killed after setting off mine in Ukraine

Three teenage boys were killed in eastern Ukraine when they triggered a mine in an area that has seen heavy fighting between separatists and Ukrainian troops, the region’s separatist authorities said yesterday.

The boys all studied at the same school in Horlivka, a town controlled by separatist forces, and were aged between 13 and 15, Ivan Prikhodko, the city’s mayor wrote on social media.

A fourth schoolboy, who is 10, was injured in the explosion and is being treated for shrapnel injuries, he wrote.

Denis Pushilin, leader of the separatist Donetsk region that includes Horlivka, issued a statement confirming the deaths.