News and press releases

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of a civilian casualty in Lysychansk. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas of Yasynuvata. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Petrivske disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at checkpoints near Verkhnoshyrokivske and Rozdolne.* The Mission saw weapons in violation in Oleksandropil. The SMM observed long queues of civilians at the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge...

VIENNA, 23 December 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed serious dismay that a four-year suspended sentence in the case of the murder of journalist Vyacheslav Veremyi in Kyiv leads to impunity...

KYIV, 22 December 2017- Ertugrul Apakan, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), today welcomed the recommitment to the ceasefire made by the Trilateral Contact Group and other signatories of the Minsk agreements...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission followed up on reports of civilian casualties from Yasynuvata. The SMM observed damage to civilian properties in residential areas in Novoluhanske, Dokuchaievsk and Yasynuvata. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near all three. Its access remained restricted in the disengagement areas and elsewhere, including at a checkpoint near Verkhnoshyrokivske and a compound in Luhansk city.* The Mission saw weapons in violation in Sievierodonetsk and near Novotroitske. It observed convoys of trucks marked, “Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation”, in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM visited four border areas outside of government control...

A two-day roundtable discussion on airport security organized by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in close co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, concluded on 21 December 2017 in Podgorica.

VIENNA, 22 December 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today condemned the violent attack on Vyacheslav Prudnikov, a journalist forthe news website “Kavkazskiy Uzel”, in the town Krasniy Sulin in the Rostov region.

On 21 December 2017 at 06:31 (Moscow time), the seventieth Russian convoy arrived at the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP). A total of 21 vehicles were checked by the Russian border guards and customs services prior to their crossing into Ukraine. All 21 vehicles had crossed back into the Russian Federation by 16:39 on 21 December.