REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DONETSK -- A Lenin statue escaped largely unharmed Wednesday after unidentified plotters tried to blow up the massive monument of the Soviet Union's founder in the de facto capital of rebel Ukraine.

Pro-Russian insurgency leaders quickly accused a "terrorist group" of trying to topple the symbol of communist power that has loomed large over the main square of the eastern industrial city of Donetsk for nearly 50 years.

A small part of the monument's foundation was damaged in the explosion while the bronze statute itself was left unscathed.

"According to our information, the explosives were planted by a terrorist group that had already committed similar crimes in Donetsk," rebel military spokesman Eduard Basurin told AFP.