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 fresh bullet impacts at a forward position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area and again observed military positions inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as again near Zoria and Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of the agreed withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle again spotted vehicles (including one carrying an anti-aircraft gun) in a non-government-controlled area of Donetsk region moving on a dirt road towards the border with the Russian Federation where there are no border crossing facilities; the SMM recalled the unmanned aerial vehicle due to multiple instances of GPS signal loss assessed as jamming. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Marinka, Artema, Vesela Hora, Donetskyi, Krasnyi Lyman and Zolote-5/Mykhailivka, as well as to enable demining in Zolote 2/Karbonit. The SMM observed gatherings in protest of low salaries and high utility costs in Lviv, Dnipro and Ivano-Frankivsk and an evacuation caused by a bomb threat in Kherson.

A presentation of a new report commissioned by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) that examines the effectiveness of gender equality mechanisms at the regional level in Ukraine, was hosted by the Equal Opportunities Caucus of Ukraine’s parliament on 12 October 2018 in Kyiv.

VIENNA, 11 October 2018 – With one billion citizens of the OSCE area – or 15 per cent of the world’s population – relying on diplomacy to succeed in creating a world free from oppression, discrimination, poverty and violence, political will must be generated to ensure full implementation of OSCE commitments, Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) said today in Vienna...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station; it heard small-arms fire overhead, despite security guarantees having been provided. The SMM followed up on reports that a man had been injured by an explosion while handling an explosive device in Lutuhyne.

At 8:59 on 10 October, an SMM patrol consisting of five members and two armoured vehicles was positioned on road H-20 approximately 1.5km south of Kamianka (government controlled, 20km north of Donetsk), and 3km north of the Donetsk Filtration Station.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region but fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of casualties in Maiorove and Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM observed damage as a result of shelling in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. It continued monitoring all three disengagement areas, where its access remained restricted. The SMM’s access was also again restricted near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka and Verkhnoshyrokivske.* The SMM saw weapons in violation of the agreed withdrawal lines near Ocheretyne, Smolianynove and Metolkine. The Mission observed newly laid mines on both sides of the contact line. It continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The SMM also facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to the phenol sludge reservoir near Zalizne and to the Petrivske pumping station near Artema.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission followed up on reports of a woman who died due to natural causes at a checkpoint of the armed formations in Horlivka. It continued monitoring all three disengagement areas and recorded ceasefire violations inside and near the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and was also restricted near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka, Staromarivka and Syvash, as well as in Michurine, at a heavy weapons holding area in a government-controlled area of Donetsk region, and again near Zaichenko.