Latest news from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received until 18:00 hrs, 3 June (Kyiv time)

This update is provided for the media and the public

The overall security situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense. Donetsk city's security situation has remained calm over the last 24 hours. The potential for further armed conflict has created anxiety and fear among the city's population. Other parts of Ukraine remained calm. The SMM has not reestablished contact with the 4 monitors from the Donetsk team and 4 monitors from the Luhansk team with whom it lost contact on 26 May and 29 May respectively.

In Kharkiv the SMM met with the department heads for social and labour affairs, as well as assistance and housing of the regional administration, both handling issues related to displaced people. According to the interlocutors, there were two categories of displaced people arriving in Kharkiv: organized arrivals according to prior arrangements made by the regional administration (for instance in sanatoriums and schools) and spontaneously requested assistance. Over the last two days, the regional administration, according to its own data, provided accommodation to 428 people from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

In Luhansk the situation remained tense. Fighting between separatist forces and border guards defending a compound in the south-west outskirts of Luhansk eased after 17 hours of fire exchanges.

In Donetsk the situation remained tense. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was unable to gain access to Donetsk airport in order to recover the bodies of separatists killed in last week's fighting, a matter that was raised by the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ leadership in recent days. The SMM considers the ICRC initiative, supported by elected Donetsk Mayor Lukyanchenko and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to be a valuable de-escalatory measure.

In Dnipropetrovsk the SMM went to Osokorivka (60 kilometres south of Dnipropetrovsk) and passed a checkpoint at Igren, with four uniformed Ukrainian police officers and one “Self-Defence” Officer. The SMM continued towards the east and talked to three police officers at the intersection of T041 and M18 (26 kilometres southeast of Dnipropetrovsk) who described the situation in the area as calm.

The SMM went to the Krasnopilje checkpoint (25 kilometres southwest of Dnipropetrovsk) where the situation was calm. The SMM went also to the district of Taromske (40 kilometres west of Dnipropetrovsk) and Mirnije (15 kilometres southwest of Dnipropetrovsk) and did not observe a police presence nor checkpoints.

The situation in Kherson, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv remained calm.

The situation in Kyiv remained calm. The SMM observed several peaceful protests. The protests were independent from each other and were organized by the “Maidan Lustration Committee”, ”Self-Defence” groups and other unidentified organizations. The protesters were complaining about socio-economic issues and corruption while targeting some specific Ukrainian parliamentarians. The SMM spoke with a member of the “Maidan Lustration Committee” who explained that one of the protesters’ main demands was the immediate dissolution of the Ukrainian Parliament because of alleged corruption cases.