News and press releases

COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine:

Bern, July 17, 2014- Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the many victims of the shocking crash of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukrainian territory. He said that the circumstances which led to this tragedy had to be investigated in a thorough and impartial manner and commended Ukraine’s readiness to involve international expertise.

The Trilateral Contact Group of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE convened in Kiev on July 17, 2014.

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. Other areas of Ukraine remained calm. Protesters in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Lviv demanded the release of a Ukrainian military pilot, who was abducted by armed groups operating in Donbas and is now reportedly in custody in Russia...

Yurii Baulin, Chairperson of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court and Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine signed a Memorandum on Co-operation to streamline future joint efforts to strengthen the rule of law, democratic development, promote international standards in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The signing ceremony took place in Kyiv on 16 July 2014...

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The SMM began facilitating an exchange between the Ukrainian army and armed supporters of the so-called ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ (LPR) to create two local evacuation corridors for wounded Ukrainian soldiers and ‘LPR’ combatants. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country. There was a false bomb alert in Kyiv in the office of a popular TV channel...

The Trilateral Contact Group of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE met in Kiev on July 15, 2014.