Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) based on information as of 18:00hrs, 8 August 2014

This update is provided for media and general public.

The SMM observed that the Donetsk railway station was open. In Shakhtarsk running water is available for only two hours per day, and gas and electricity has been unavailable since 27 July.

The SMM in Donetsk city saw that the railway station was open. Tickets from Donetsk to Kyiv were, however, unavailable for the next couple of days. At banks which were still operational, people were queuing at ATMs.

The SMM went to Shakhtarsk (57km east of Donetsk city, 21km northwest of Torez). The town appeared deserted. Shops were closed. Residents told the SMM that running water was available for only two hours per day. Gas and electricity had been cut since 27 July. The SMM observed in the town damage, which appeared have been caused by shelling on the night of 7 and 8 August. On one street a number of apartments had been destroyed in two residential blocks; on another street, in another residential block, two apartments had been completely destroyed; and a two-metre-deep crater was observed. 

The lack of electricity and Internet coverage in the Luhansk region prevented the SMM from sending its report. Reporting will be resumed as soon as possible.

In Dergachi (16km north of Kharkiv city) the SMM observed in front of the military recruitment centre a group of 60 people protesting against mobilisation. No incidents were reported.

In Pokrovske (130km southeast of Dnipropetrovsk city) the SMM observed a protest against mobilisation. Approximately 50 women gathered in front of the district administration building. The protestors dispersed after two hours. No incidents were reported. The women said that they on 6 August had met representatives of the military recruitment office, the district council and the prosecutor’s office to discuss the issue of mobilisation.

In Kherson the SMM met the deputy head of the State Migration Service, who said that either a Ukrainian ID or Ukrainian passport was sufficient to cross the administrative boundary line (ABL) from Crimea. According to him no invitation was required for Ukrainian citizens.

The situation in Odessa was calm.

In Hertsa (30km south of Chernivtsi) representatives of the Regional Administration told the SMM that Russian-speaking children displaced from Crimea could not receive education in the town in Russian. He explained that the town had a large ethnic Romanian population and so the language of instruction in local schools was either Romanian or Ukrainian. The nearest Russian-language school, he said, was 30km away.

The situation in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv was calm.

Following the recent events in Kyiv on the Maidan (see Latest SMM update of 8 August 2014) the SMM observed several newly established barricades, reinforced with tyres, timber and paving stones. Many cases of ready-to-use Molotov cocktails, and containers of engine-oil-like fluid were seen on Khreshchatyk Street, close to the Maidan. Several gatherings of up to 120 people were monitored. The SMM observed several tents that had been put up again.