Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine based on information received until 18:00 hrs, 14 July

This update is provided for media and general public.

Tension remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country.

In Kharkiv, on the night of 12-13 July, the monument of independence on the Constitution Square was vandalized with red paint by unknown perpetrators, and later during the day cleaned up by city employees. Police officers were working on site in the morning.  This is the fourth incident of this kind in Kharkiv.

The overall situation in Luhansk and Donetsk city remained tense. In Shchastya (23 km north of Luhansk), a senior Ukrainian military officer told the SMM that he had attempted to arrange safe passage to evacuate thirteen wounded Ukrainian soldiers. He alleged that this idea was rejected by the ‘president’ of the ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ (LPR), Mr Bolotov.

The SMM saw few people in the streets of Donetsk city. In a video statement from Kyiv, Mayor of Donetsk Oleksandr Lukyanchenko announced that because of threats received from representatives of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’, he had left the city. He said that he would co-ordinate the activities of the city administration from Kyiv and return to Donetsk when circumstances allowed.

The situation in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson was calm. The SMM met with the chief of the border police unit in Dnipropetrovsk, who said that the border police paid particular attention to Russian males aged 16 to 60 entering the city.  Due to the security situation in the country, the border guard unit increased control measures concerning alleged entry of opponents of the Ukrainian government into the country.

The director of Dnipropetrovsk’s Mechnikov Hospital as well as the acting chief of the Regional Health Department informed the SMM that from 9 May to 13 July, a total of 128 wounded soldiers had been treated in the hospital, including 82 who had arrived between 11 and 13 July. They explained that Ukrainian military helicopters transport the patients from the conflict areas to hospitals in Dnipropetrovsk, as well as in Kyiv, Odessa and Vinnytsia. The interlocutors expressed their concern over a possible lack of beds in the near future and overworked staff. Indeed, the hospital has 1,200 beds and 70 beds are dedicated for intensive care, which are fully occupied.

In Odessa the SMM observed approximately 60 persons in Kulikove Pole square on 13 July. They were commemorating people who had died on 2 May in the fire at the Trade Union Building. The mood was generally restrained, some activists called on the people to fight ‘fascism’. Several priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) blessed the crowd.

Also on 13 July, approximately 120 people gathered at Kulikovo Pole, chanting "Donbass, we are with you". The mood was calm.

The situation in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv was calm.

In Kyiv the SMM met with two journalists, who said that in June they had been held twice by ’LPR’ representatives against their will. The interlocutors said they had been accused by the ‘LPR’ of supplying ammunition to the Ukrainian army, although in their view they were held because they were Ukrainian journalists. According to both journalists, they were freed following pressure from influential Ukrainian politicians. Altogether the journalists estimated that there were 80-100 persons being held in Luhansk.