News and press releases

SARAJEVO, 25 April 2017 – A group of 12 young people from the Western Balkans region participated in a two-day workshop and discussed their role in prevention of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism, which concluded today in Sarajevo...

An SMM patrol member died and two more were taken to hospital after an explosion severely damaged an SMM vehicle near Pryshyb, possibly after the vehicle came into contact with a mine. Between the evenings of 21 and 22 April the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 22 and 23 April the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24-hour period. The Mission saw damage in Novooleksandrivka, Katerynivka, Dokuchaievsk and Syhnalne. The SMM monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* It observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM saw mines and unexploded ordnance in populated areas. The Mission monitored three border areas currently not under government control...

The concluding module of a train-the-trainers course for instructors of the Central Asia border institutes was delivered by the OSCE Border Management Staff College at the State Border Guard College of Latvia in Rezekne from 17 to 22 April 2017...

KYIV (24 April)-- The entire OSCE Special Monitoring Mission is filled with great sorrow at the loss of a team member while conducting a patrol near non-government controlled Pyshyb in the Luhansk region yesterday morning.

On 23 April an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was driving near “LPR”-controlled Pryshyb (34km north-west of Luhansk) on a secondary road previously used by the SMM. At 11:17, one of the SMM vehicles (second in line), with three members on board, was severely damaged as a result of an explosion, possibly after coming into contact with a mine.

LUHANSK, 23 April 2017 – A paramedic who was part of a patrol of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) died and two SMM monitors were taken to hospital today after their vehicle was heavily damaged by an explosion near Pryshyb in a non-government controlled area of Luhansk region...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations, but fewer explosions in Donetsk region and fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM monitored the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske, but its access there and elsewhere remained restricted.* It observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission saw damage from shelling and gunfire in Dokuchaievsk and near Katerynivka. The SMM continued to monitor the presence of protestors and tent booths at a blockade site in Bakhmut. The Mission monitored three border areas currently not under government control. The SMM monitored the continuation of protests in front of branches of the Sberbank of Russia in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa. The Mission monitored the situation along the administrative boundary line between Kherson and Crimea.