News and press releases

In Donetsk region, the SMM observed more ceasefire violations compared to the previous day. In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded more explosions but less small-arms fire compared to the previous day. The Mission observed damage to houses in Dokuchaievsk and Novooleskandrivka, and continued to monitor the build-up of armed positions at Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. The SMM monitored the withdrawal of weapons and the presence of unexploded ordnance. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire in Vesela Horivka and Shchastia and visited two border areas not controlled by the Government. The SMM observed demonstrations in Odessa and Ivano-Frankivsk. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle crashed near government-controlled Stepanivka. The Mission’s freedom of movement was denied on two occasions, in areas not controlled by the Government...

In Donetsk region, the SMM observed fewer ceasefire violations during the night of 15 June, as compared to the previous night, while it recorded more ceasefire violations during the daytime of 16 June compared to the previous day. In particular, it noted a sharp increase in the number of ceasefire violations in the Avdiivka-Yasynuvata area, with more than 300 explosions. In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded a single case of ceasefire violations in Veselohorivka. The Mission conducted crater analysis and observed damage to residential houses caused by shelling, in Staromykhailivka, Dokuchaievsk, and Holmivskyi. The Mission’s freedom of movement was restricted on one occasion in a government-controlled area. In Chernivtsi and Kyiv the SMM monitored peaceful protests...

VIENNA, 17 June 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned the murder of radio journalist Luka Popov in Srpski Krstur, Serbia...

VIENNA, 17 June 2016 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said she was deeply saddened upon learning of the murder of Jacinto Torres Hernandez, a freelance reporter for La Estrella, a Spanish-language publication in Fort Worth, Texas, USA...

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Tirana on 14 June 2016, where he expressed the OSCE’s commitment to a long-term partnership and support for Albania’s institutions and its citizens...

KYIV, 16 June 2016 – Expressing solidarity with Ukraine in meetings today with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Foreign Miniter Pavlo Klimkin, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) urged the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements to end the conflict in the Donbas region and reiterated the Parliamentary Assembly’s readiness to do its part to de-escalate and resolve the crisis...

COPENHAGEN, 16 June 2016 – Stressing that a revitalization of the OSCE’s commitment to the human dimension of security is needed at a time when a “crisis of leadership and ideas” is coinciding with a humanitarian emergency related to Europe’s refugee and migrant crisis, a report and draft resolution authored by Serbian parliamentarian Gordana Comic offer fresh approaches to ensuring human rights commitments are upheld by OSCE participating States...