Chief Monitor of OSCE SMM to Ukraine says protection of civilians must be paramount

VIENNA, 26 April 2018 – With the volatile and unpredictable security situation in eastern Ukraine continuing, there is an urgent need to protect civilians living there, said the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Ertugrul Apakan, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna today.

Chief Monitor Apakan paid tribute to SMM colleague Joseph Stone, who was killed one year ago when an SMM armoured vehicle was struck by an explosion, most likely caused by an anti-tank mine in the non-government controlled area near Pryshyb, Luhansk region.

“The one-year anniversary was a solemn reminder of the risks our monitors continue to face,” he said. “There remains no higher priority for the Mission than the safety and security of our staff,” Apakan said, calling on those on the ground to respect the work of the SMM, and to ensure its safety and security as they have committed to do upon signing the Minsk agreements.

Referring to the recent disruption in the operations of the Donetsk Filtration Station which followed the wounding by gunfire of a number of its employees, he added that “the human cost of the conflict cannot be counted by casualties alone.”

Access to basic necessities, such as water, food and medicine, was, he said, threatened by, among others, the lack of measurable steps to cease fire, withdraw weapons, disengage, and de-mine. The SMM – through the facilitation and monitoring of hundreds of “windows of silence”, including at the Donetsk Filtration Station – essentially localized adherence to the ceasefire – has done its part; others must do theirs, Chief Monitor Apakan said.