News and press releases

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM continued to observe hardships faced by civilians at checkpoints along the contact line and followed up on reports that civilians had remained after closing hours in the area between the checkpoint of the armed formations and the entry-exit checkpoint of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Maiorsk. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line, as well as to damaged houses in Marinka. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The Mission followed up on reports of vandalism in a Polish Military Cemetery in Lviv. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and at a checkpoint near Novolaspa.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure as well as damaged houses. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The SMM monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate the transfer of human remains across the bridge in Shchastia. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district and at a checkpoint near Zaichenko.*

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission observed damage to a house caused by shelling in a residential area of Chermalyk. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations, including over 20 explosions, inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and observed fresh shrapnel damage. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Mykhailivka and Alchevsk. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential civilian infrastructure and houses on both sides of the contact line. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The Mission monitored a court hearing related to the detained Mekhanik Pogodin tanker; the court ruled that the tanker should continue to be detained. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted at two weapons storage sites in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region and near Novolaspa.*

MINSK, 4 December 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 4 December 2018:

Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Mission followed up on reports of a man injured due to gunfire in Betmanove, Donetsk region. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations assessed as inside the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas.* The SMM observed fresh damage to one of the wooden ramps on the broken section of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. It observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to the Petrivske water pumping station near Artema as well as an assessment of a water pipeline near Popasna. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station.

Between the evenings of 30 November and 1 December, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 1 and 2 December, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed fresh damage in a residential area of Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM observed military presence inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM again observed multiple launch rocket systems in violation of the withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted near Zaichenko, Sosnivske and Novoazovsk, as well as near Voznesenivka, an area close to the border with the Russian Federation...

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM observed multiple launch rocket systems in violation of the withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The SMM followed up at entry-exit checkpoints on possible impacts of the introduction of martial law. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas, as well as near Zaichenko, Novoselivka Druha and at compounds on both sides of the contact line.