Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 2 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). In particular, it noted attempts in Donetsk to implement a ceasefire and arrange for the withdrawal of heavy weaponry. An SMM Unarmed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was shot at in the Donetsk region.

In “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled Donetsk, the SMM attended a meeting of the head of the Ukrainian side of the JCCC, Lieutenant General Askarov, the head of the Russian Representation to south-east Ukraine, Lieutenant General Lentsov and “DPR” members. Participants discussed options for the implementation of a durable ceasefire, in particular at government-controlled Donetsk airport.

At the JCCC headquarters in government-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk), the chief of staff of the Russian Representation told the SMM that it had deployed a group of Russian officers to Donetsk and would deploy another group to “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”)-controlled Luhansk on 3 December. The chief of staff of the Ukrainian side said that Ukrainian officers would join the Russian officers within the next few days. Ukrainian and Russian officers said that 79 incidents had been reported in the Donetsk region to the JCCC in the previous 24 hours.

At the JCCC office in government-controlled Svitlodarsk (55km North-East of Donetsk), Ukrainian and Russian officers said that, in their area of responsibility, on each of the previous four days six to eight incidents had been recorded, which they said was fewer than before.

At a Ukrainian military checkpoint (CP), located three kilometres from “LPR”-controlled Fashchivka (15km South-East of Debaltseve), the CP commander told the SMM that there had been no shelling of the CP in the previous four days.

Near “DPR”-controlled Makiivka (10km East of Donetsk), the SMM observed 27 unmarked green military-style trucks moving west.

Approximately three kilometres north of “DPR”-controlled Ilovaysk (68km South-East of Donetsk), the SMM observed four unmarked Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) moving south-east, each with a 7.62mm machine gun mounted on top.

At the “DPR”-controlled Ukrainian Border Crossing Point in Uspenka (93km South-East of Donetsk), the SMM observed approximately 50 civilian cars crossing from Ukraine into the Russian Federation and five civilian vehicles entering Ukraine.

At approximately 14:00hrs an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was in an area three kilometres South-East of Pavlopil (25km North-East of Mariupol), an area of on-going fighting. It spotted a military-style truck with six people around it. Almost immediately eight to 10 rounds – assessed to have been from a ZU-23 (a 23mm anti-aircraft gun) – were fired at the SMM UAV. None hit the UAV. Twenty minutes later, four kilometres to the north-west, the UAV spotted three tanks and an APC. Almost two hours after the firing incident, at a location approximately seven kilometres south-east of the location of the firing incident, the SMM UAV spotted two tanks.    

Within a hundred square metre area in a south-western suburb of Donetsk, the SMM observed damaged civilian buildings, including a kindergarten, at three different locations. Crater impacts inspected by the SMM suggested the shells, assessed by the SMM to have been Grads (multi-launching rocket system), were fired from the West, South-South-East and South-South-West. Local residents and members of the “DPR” told the SMM that the area had been shelled the previous day. There were no casualties, they said.

The head and deputy head of the District Administration in government-controlled Kreminna (122km North of Luhansk) told the SMM that the Government had approved and budgeted for the transfer of agricultural and medical university faculties from “LPR”-controlled Luhansk to Kreminna. They said 50 teachers and 30 medical staff had already been employed.

The situation remained calm in Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk.

The mayor and head of the City Council of Bolekhiv (75km West of Ivano-Frankivsk) told the SMM that 15 local people from the town had volunteered to fight in the east, three of whom had been injured, one seriously.

The situation remained calm in Kherson, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Kyiv.