Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine based on information received until 18:00 hrs, 23 July (Kyiv time)

This update is provided for media and general public.

The SMM facilitated access of Malaysian experts to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and attended a mourning ceremony at Kharkiv’s international airport. Fighting in parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions continued.

The SMM attended a mourning ceremony at Kharkiv’s international airport to pay tribute to the victims of the civilian airplane crash of 17 July in Hrabove (79km east of Donetsk). Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Volodymyr Hroysman, diplomats from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Germany, USA, Indonesia, Belgium, Canada and Australia, and international rescue workers participated in the event. Forty coffins were transported back to the Netherlands.

In the evening of 22 July the SMM monitored a demonstration of some 300 supporters of Ukraine’s unity in front of the Regional Administration building. The aim of the rally, according to the participants, was to prevent events similar to those from Donbas occurring in Kharkiv. Participants held Ukrainian, EU and NATO flags; activists called in particular for holding accountable those responsible for killing Maidan demonstrators earlier this year, and for dismissing civil servants allegedly covertly supporting ‘pro-Russian’ activities. The participants further demanded the prohibition of meetings of communists and separatists in the city.

Fighting in parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions continued. The SMM accompanied Malaysia Airlines investigators to the crash site in Hrabove. The SMM and Malaysian experts visited two additional parts of the crash site not investigated on previous days. On two big fields in the vicinity of Petropavlivka village (69km east of Donetsk) additional, small or medium pieces of wreckage were observed. Armed supporters of the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ escorted the SMM convoy to the site.

Donetsk city was calm, practically deserted and with no substantive change to the volatile security situation. No single armed supporter of the ‘DPR’ in either the city or the train station could be observed. The SMM monitored the situation at the railway station, where fighting on the previous day reportedly took place. All trains operated as usual with no delays or cancellations. The atmosphere was calm with few people seen to be departing.

In Dnepropetrovsk the SMM met with lawyers representing two persons, detained on 24 June by the SBU, and accused of performing activities against territorial integrity, inviolability of Ukraine’s borders, and terrorism.

Kherson region’s deputy head of the emergency situation department informed the SMM that currently there are 2,287 displaced persons residing in the area, including 921 from Crimea. He said that his department registers on average 20 - 40 displaced persons arriving daily from Donbas. On 22 July the Head of Mykolaiv Regional Council provided up-to-date figures on displaced persons in the region: presently 1,785 of them, including 660 from Crimea. Half of the local displaced persons are children.

Odessa’s mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, during a meeting with the SMM, expressed concerns related to the political and security situation in the city. According to him, the underlying causes behind the tension in the city in the spring, culminating in the tragic events of 2 May, still remained.

The situation in Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk was calm.

In the evening of 22 July the SMM in Lviv monitored a march of 2,500-3,000 fans of FC Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk to the stadium Arena Lviv, for the Ukrainian Super-Cup final match between FC Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk. The aim of the march, performed together by fans of the two teams and the local Lviv team FC Karpaty, was to demonstrate unity. The atmosphere was peaceful. Only ten police officers were observed by the SMM to be present. The match was attended by around 35,000 spectators.

The situation in Kyiv was calm.