Almost 900 soldiers died in Donbass because of suicides and premeditated murders since the beginning of fighting - Matios

Almost 900 soldiers died because of suicides and premeditated murders since the beginning of hostilities in the Donbass. This was reported on the air of 112 Ukraine TV channel by Chief Military Prosecutor Anatolii Matios.

"Having analyzed the state of noncombat irrecoverable losses over the entire period of hostilities, that is, from 2014 to 2018, we were faced with terrifying statistics that made us look for a way out how to prevent this. Almost 900 Ukrainian servicemen died as a result of suicide and premeditated murders. This is a terrible loss, this is almost 2 full-fledged battalions of the AFU", - he told.

Matios stresses that the main cause is posttraumatic syndrome.

According to him, the military prosecutor's office is now planning to adopt the experience of Israel, USA, Canada and UK, which have faced the need to curb the negative effects of this syndrome.

Earlier on September 19, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko reported that since the outbreak of hostilities in the Donbass, 2911 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. The UN report said that since the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, about 3 thousand civilians had been killed. This included 298 civilians who died as a result of MH17 fall in 2014.