Latest news from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received until 26 May, 18:00 (Kyiv time)

This update is provided for the media and the public

The situation in Donbas remained tense. Public security and safety is of high concern due to fights in parts of Donetsk city between the Ukrainian army and armed separatists. Other regions of the country were calm.

In Kharkiv the SMM observed public rallies held by opponents of Ukraine’s unity in front of both the Russian and Polish Consulates. Participants with Russian and Soviet flags gathered in front of the buildings. They wanted to submit petitions signed – according to the demonstrators – by 1,500 residents of Kharkiv calling on the EU and Russia not to recognise the presidential election results. They also demanded cessation of the anti-terrorist operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Kharkiv’s mayor, Hennadiy Kernes, wounded in an assassination attempt on 28 April (see Latest News of 29 April) and hospitalised in Israel, informed the newspaper ‘Segodnya‘ that he is recovering. Different sources from the city administration confirmed to SMM that Kernes is getting better and wants to return to Kharkiv as soon as possible.

The SMM was informed that local businessmen from Kharkiv region created a fund called Peace and Order to help finance national security and law enforcement structures, and help families of wounded and killed soldiers.

The SMM in Luhansk received information that two Ukrainian journalists and their driver had been abducted by separatists earlier on 25 May at a checkpoint in Shchastia (24 km north of Luhansk). According to other SMM interlocutors, the journalists were taken to the occupied SBU building in Luhansk, where they are being held on the grounds of not having identity papers. The driver was released later on 25 May. The press secretary of the separatists confirmed to the SMM that the two men were being held because of suspicion of ‘espionage’.

The SMM obtained information that local Maidan activist, Ilia Yefremov, had been beaten by armed separatists, after being abducted on 23 May from his home. He is believed to be currently held incommunicado in the occupied SBU building in Luhansk.

In Donetsk city the SMM planned to visit the Prokoview International Airport Donetsk to verify media information about suspension of all flights. However at around 10 am, the SMM monitors were stopped on the access road to the airport by the police, blocking passage through the checkpoint towards the airport building. The police said the airport had been occupied by separatists, and negotiations with the occupiers were going on. In the afternoon a jet plane was heard flying over Donetsk city centre and a number of explosions were heard. The Donetsk Deputy Police Commander confirmed to SMM that one airplane and several helicopters of the Ukrainian army were involved in fighting, with people trying to take over the airport and – again, three and half hours later – that the fighting had moved in the direction of the railroad station, which was still working, although an area nearby was closed to traffic.

The SMM visited the Hotel Victoria, used as a temporary office of the Governor of the Donetsk region. The hotel lobby and the cark park appeared empty. The SMM obtained credible confirmation of information (see Latest News of 26 May) that 20-30 armed men had entered the hotel the previous day.

In Telmanove (81 km south of Donetsk) the SMM met high-ranked local officials from the local police and city administration. According to them the situation in the area is relatively calm. They indicated that many people did not vote owing to intimidation by separatists.

The situation in Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson and Odessa was calm. In Odessa the SMM held a meeting with one of the moderate leaders of the movement demanding Ukraine’s transformation into a federal state. He explained that the aim of the movement is to obtain significant popular support in the next local elections.

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

The SMM met in Kyiv with a representative of the Crimean Tatars, who helps displaced persons coming to Kyiv. The meeting took place at Mezhyhiria, Victor Yanukovych’s former residence, where most displaced persons from Crimea and East/South Ukraine are temporarily sheltered. The premises are protected by Automaidan’s activists, who allowed the displaced persons to settle in the villas. Approximately 76 persons (15 families) live there. 30 of them are Crimean Tatars and 46 come from the Donetsk region. According to the interlocutor, the authorities do not have the capacity to accommodate all displaced persons coming to the Kyiv region. Apart from housing, they need food, clothes and financial help.