News and press releases

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. It observed recent damage to civilian properties caused by shelling in residential areas of Staromykhailivka. The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske disengagement area. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas; it was also restricted near Novoazovsk- close to the border with the Russian Federation – as well as near Oleksandrivske, Bezimenne, Zaichenko and Troitske.* The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to the Petrivske water pumping station near Artema, power lines near Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and damaged houses in Marinka and Krasnohorivka, as well as to enable demining near Nyzhnoteple. In Kyiv, the SMM followed up on media reports of searches at apartments and offices of two activists...

MINSK, 6 November 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 6 November 2018:

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. It observed damage caused by gunfire in a residential area of Dokuchaievsk. The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske and Zolote disengagement areas and military presence inside the Petrivske disengagement area. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas; it was also restricted near Novoazovsk and Dovzhanske – close to the border with the Russian Federation – and near Zaichenko, Bezimenne and Naberezhne.* The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to power lines near Vesela Hora and to damaged houses in Marinka and Krasnohorivka, as well as to enable demining near Nyzhnoteple. In Odessa, the SMM followed up on reports of vandalism to a monument. In Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region, the SMM followed up on reports of a grenade attack against a social activist.

VIENNA, 6 November 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today expressed concern regarding the lengthy detention of journalist Igor Rudnikov in Kaliningrad in the Russian Federation and reiterated his call on the country’s authorities to release him...

BELGRADE, 6 November 2018 – The OSCE Mission to Serbia, in close partnership with the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) on 6 and 7 November organized a training course for building police capacities in cyber forensics and investigating cybercrime.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the evenings of 2 and 3 November, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 3 and 4 November, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and a sharp increase in ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. On 4 November, the Mission heard an explosion 300-400m north of its location in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka as well as at least 15 bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire 500m from its location in the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. It saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted in Holmivskyi, near Novoazovsk – an area close to the border with the Russian Federation – and Verkhnoshyrokivske, and again near Zaichenko and Bezimenne.* The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable demining near Zolote-2/Karbonit and Nyzhnoteple. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a public gathering organized in memory of Kateryna Handziuk, a Kherson city council official and civil society activist who died on 4 November after having suffered severe acid injuries in an attack on 31 July 2018...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas; it was also restricted near Novoazovsk and Sievernyi – areas close to the border with the Russian Federation – as well as Zaichenko and Bezimenne.* The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to the phenol sludge reservoir near Zalizne, damaged houses in Marinka and Krasnohorivka and the Petrivske water pumping station near Artema, as well as to enable demining near Novotroitske, Zolote-2/Karbonit and Nyzhnoteple...