News and press releases

CHERKASY, Ukraine, 2 May 2016 – Two six-day training courses for Ukrainian border control officers aimed at increasing their operational awareness to recognize original, forged and false documents, and in using forensic equipment to identify document forgery, started today in Cherkasy...

The SMM recorded a lower number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous day. It conducted further crater analysis related to the shelling in Olenivka. The Mission observed presence of weapons in violation of the respective withdrawal lines. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works. The SMM observed long queues at checkpoints near the contact line. It observed a protest in Odessa...

BERLIN, 29 April 2016 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the agreement reached today by the Trilateral Working Group (TCG) on full respect of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, starting with the orthodox Easter and May holidays...

MINSK, 29 April 2016 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, today announced that the TCG, and participants from certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, welcomed the determination of all participants of the Minsk process to provide for full respect of the ceasefire starting with the upcoming Easter and May holidays as of 30 April 2016, 00.00 hrs...

The SMM continued to record a high number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It continued to follow up on civilian fatalities sustained by shelling in Olenivka and reports on people wounded in the incident. The Mission found no information to confirm media reports about casualties resulting from a trip wire explosion in Stanytsia Luhanska. The SMM observed the presence of numerous weapons in violation of the respective withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It also monitored several public gatherings in Kyiv...

The first in a series of five OSCE-supported two-day training seminars for more than 30 law-enforcement officers from 14 regions of Kazakhstan on investigative techniques and methods to counter trafficking in human beings started in Karaganda on 29 April 2016...

Four civilians were killed in “DPR”-controlled Olenivka, south-west of Donetsk city, when the area came under shelling. The SMM recorded significant numbers of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including multiple launch rocket system fire. The SMM monitored a demonstration against the mayor in Odessa. The SMM monitored a demonstration outside a closed-door court hearing in Kharkiv involving members of the Aidar battalion.