Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 15 December 2014

This report is for media and the general public.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). During a joint patrol, the SMM was caught up in small arms crossfire directed at Ukrainian military vehicles at Donetsk International Airport. There were no injuries to SMM personnel or damage to SMM vehicles.

In Kharkiv, the SMM spoke with the deputy head of the Ukrainian Pension Fund for the Kharkiv Region, who provided an update on the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in the region and eligible to receive pensions. The interlocutor stated that, between 1 April and 15 December, the Kharkiv regional offices received 84,000 requests from IDPs from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The district administration has so far allocated pensions to 71,152 IDPs who could prove that they had been registered with the Ukrainian State Pension Fund. The district administration is currently reviewing the remaining requests.

On 15 December at 17:50hrs, an SMM patrol of two armoured vehicles was caught up in small arms crossfire that was directed at Ukrainian military vehicles at the Donetsk International Airport. No injuries were caused to SMM personnel or damage to SMM vehicles. (More details enclosed in the SMM Spot Report released on 16 December).

In government-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM visited the JCCC headquarters (HQ), where officers of the Ukrainian and Russian General Staff were present, together with members of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) and “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”). At the JCCC HQ, the Ukrainian chief of staff (CoS) in the JCCC said that, at 09:02hrs on 15 December, 10 BM-21 Grad rockets had landed in the north-eastern part of Debaltseve, about 5km from the JCCC HQ. He said that the rockets had been fired from the direction of “LPR”-controlled Zorinsk (90km north-east of Donetsk). The Russian representative at the JCCC HQ and members of “DPR” and “LPR” agreed that the rockets had been fired from an “LPR”-controlled area. The Russian CoS, however, suggested that it was unlikely that “regular LPR forces” were responsible for the attack as they had previously withdrawn their artillery systems from the area. He therefore assumed that an unknown group, not under “LPR” control, might be responsible. He said that the “LPR army CoS” had begun an investigation to determine who had fired the Grad. Earlier in the day a resident from Debaltseve also reported the attack to the SMM. The SMM has not yet verified any withdrawal of weapons from the area around Zorinsk.

The officers in the JCCC HQ handed a log of incidents reported in the previous 24hrs over to the SMM. The log reported 10 incidents involving small-arms fire, in addition to the incident in Debaltseve reported above. The SMM has not yet verified these cases.

The SMM was told that from 16 December, as part of the rotation of officers in the JCCC, the head of the Ukrainian side, Lt Gen Volodymyr Askarov, would be replaced by Maj Gen Aleksandr Razmaznin, the deputy head of the Joint Operations Centre of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; and the head of the Russian Representation to south-eastern Ukraine, Lt Gen Aleksandr Lentsov, would be replaced by Maj Gen Aleksandr Vyaznikov, deputy commander of the Russian Federation’s airborne forces for peacekeeping operations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO)  Collective Rapid Reaction Force.

The SMM spoke with the Ukrainian Armed Forces commanders of the checkpoints (CPs) in government-controlled Fashchivka (85km north-east of Donetsk) and government-controlled Maiorsk (45km north of Donetsk). Both commanders said that the situation had remained calm over the last 24 hours despite some sporadic small arms fire. In government-controlled Hranitne (57km south of Donetsk), the leading Ukrainian Armed Forces officer reported that there have been no ceasefire violations since 9 December.

On 15 December, the SMM met the Ukrainian commanders staffing all CPs along the P66/T1316 road from Lysychansk (Ukraine-controlled, 91 km north-west from Luhansk) to Zolote (Ukraine-controlled, 75km west of Luhansk). All interlocutors reported that no cease-fire violations had occurred since 8 December. In Pervomaisk (“LPR”-controlled 75km west of Luhansk), the SMM met with the Cossack commander of the village. During the meeting, the interlocutor reported that a skirmish was ongoing between his forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces at a 3km distance from Pervomaisk (direction not specified). The SMM heard one single explosion during the meeting. The SMM could not assess the distance, the direction, origins or the type of weapon system used.

In Dnipropetrovsk, the SMM met a representative of the Regional State Administration (RSA). The interlocutor said that the RSA is in the final phase of completing an EU-funded 1.5 million EUR project for local IDPs. The project plans the reconstruction of 15 properties, designed to provide housing for up to 2000 IDPs settled in Dnipropetrovsk region.

On 14 December in Lviv, the SMM observed the local population, and members of local churches and civic organizations collecting private donations, including medical equipment and money, and organizing charity events in support of the Ukrainian armed personnel deployed in the East. The organizing NGONGO
non-governmental organization Civic Sector of Maidan stated that the donated money would be used to provide medical care to all Ukrainian armed and security personnel deployed in the East and to purchase military vehicles and military clothes for the winter.

The situation remained calm in Odesa, Kherson, Kyiv, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk.