News and press releases

The situation across the country was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. In Luhansk a military convoy, of unknown origin, consisting of three tanks and ten BTRs (armoured personnel carriers), was seen. The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) observed customs procedures on the administrative boundary line between Kherson region and Crimea. Four SMM monitors from the Donetsk team have been missing for 26 days and four SMM monitors from the Luhansk team for 23 days.

The situation across the country was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. Donetsk city remained calm, with no substantive change to the security situation. The Donetsk team has been missing for 25 and the Luhansk team for 22 days. The SMM Head Office, in co-operation with the Office in Ukraine of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have organized and have begun to implement a joint training programme of monitors from each of the ten teams on the topic of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The purpose of this UNHCR-facilitated training, carried out over the next three weeks, is to strengthen the capacity of the SMM to monitor and report on the situation regarding IDPs...

ASHGABAT, 20 June 2014 – The use of new technologies in journalism and online journalism skills were the focus of an OSCE-organized training course that concluded in Ashgabat today...

The situation across the country was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. Donetsk city remains outwardly calm, with no substantive change to the security situation. In a significant and positive development, the SMM has made contact with both the Donetsk team and the Luhansk team, which have been missing since 26 May and 29 May respectively.

VIENNA, 19 June 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today told participating States that events in Ukraine pose a great threat to media freedom and free expression across the OSCE region...

The situation across the country was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. Donetsk city remained outwardly calm. The police estimated that several hundred thousand people have now left the city. The mood among those that remained is uncertain and anxious. Mortar fire was reported to have continued in Sloviansk. The SMM has not reestablished communication with the four monitors from the Donetsk team and four monitors from the Luhansk team with whom it lost contact on 26 May and 29 May respectively...

The situation across the country was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. There was no substantive change to the security situation in Donetsk city, which- on the surface at least- remained calm. Repairs to a key Donetsk water-supply pipeline were underway. The SMM has not reestablished communication with the four monitors from the Donetsk team and four monitors from the Luhansk team with whom it lost contact on 26 May and 29 May respectively...