News and press releases

WARSAW, 26 June 2019 – Eradicating all forms of torture and putting survivors’ rights at the centre of focus must become a priority of countries across the OSCE region, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said on today’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

KYIV, 26 June 2019 – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Yaşar Halit Çevik, welcomed the willingness expressed at a recent meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group to disengage from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska, and reiterated the Mission’s full readiness to monitor the disengagement process...

VIENNA 24 June 2019 – The OSCE has the framework, the platform and the tools needed to address today’s complex security challenges. What is needed to make effective use of those tools are political will, seeking new opportunities for dialogue and new ways of communicating and negotiating, all keynote speakers agreed at today’s opening session of the Annual Security Review Conference (ASRC).

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. A girl was injured by shelling in Horlivka. It saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line, including in training areas in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The SMM saw anti-tank mines near Krasnohorivka and Vodiane, some for the first time. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. Its freedom of movement was also restricted on a road near non-government-controlled Staropetrivske and at a checkpoint of the armed formations near Novoazovsk.

Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 21 and 22 June the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Between the evenings of 22 and 23 June, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. Two men were injured by shrapnel in Horlivka and Vesele, and a woman was injured and a house damaged by gunfire in Chermalyk. The SMM saw fresh damage from gunfire to a residential house in Pikuzy. Small-arms fire was assessed as aimed at an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle on two occasions near Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and Pervomaisk, including in the vicinity of a patrol. The SMM saw an anti-personnel mine, tailfins from exploded mortar rounds and remnants of exploded grenades between Popasna and Pervomaisk, some for the first time. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. The SMM continued to follow up on hardship faced by civilians at checkpoints along the contact line. It saw the body of a man who reportedly died of natural causes while queuing at the entry-exit checkpoint north of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. The Mission saw people apply for “LPR passports” in Kadiivka to be able to later apply for Russian Federation passports. The SMM monitored the Kyiv Pride 2019 march in Kyiv. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. Its freedom of movement was also restricted at checkpoints of the armed formations near Zaichenko, Yuzhna Lomuvatka and Verkhnoshyrokivske.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM observed two residential houses damaged by shelling in government-controlled Chermalyk. The SMM observed about 160 explosions and about 4,600 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire in areas south-east of government-controlled Popasna. The SMM saw 30 multiple launch rocket systems in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to and the operation of critical civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. Its freedom of movement was also denied in non-government-controlled areas of southern Donetsk region at checkpoints near Novoazovsk, Naberezhne and in Kozatske.*

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 21 June 2019 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Miroslav Lajčák, concluded today his trip to the three OSCE field operations in South-Eastern Europe with a visit to the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.