News and press releases

Henrik Villadsen, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) and Kostiantyn Vashchenko, the Head of the National Agency of Civil Service of Ukraine, signed a memorandum of understanding to promote wider use of conflict management approaches in public service. The signing ceremony took place on 29 August 2019 at a ceremony in Kyiv

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The Mission saw fresh damage from gunfire to a Culture House in non-government-controlled Holubivske. • The SMM saw that the former forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and of the armed formations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area continued to be dismantled. • The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside and near the disengagement area near Zolote. • The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. • The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs to and the operation of essential civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at checkpoints in non-government-controlled Zaichenko and Verkhnoshyrokivske, and at a heavy weapons holding area in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region...

ERGNETI, 29 August 2019- The 95th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Erik Høeg, Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Rudolf Michalka, Special Representative for the South Caucasus of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, on 29 August 2019...

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro supported the Regional Youth Co-operation Office (RYCO) in developing a regional training programme from 26 to 28 August 2019 in Podgorica.

A three-day training seminar on anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing concluded on 29 August 2019 in Nur-Sultan. Some 50 government officials from law-enforcement agencies and the judiciary took part in the event...

VIENNA, 28 August 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed today’s court ruling in Ukraine to release from pre-trial detention journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, the chief of the RIA Novosti Ukraina office in Kyiv...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The Mission saw that the former forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and of the armed formations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area continued to be dismantled. • An SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spotted a surface-to-air missile system in violation of withdrawal lines near non-government-controlled Chystoe Ozero. • The Mission saw anti-tank mines for the first time near civilian houses in government-controlled Pisky. • An SMM long-range UAV spotted a train in non-government-controlled Khartsyzk. • The Mission monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate the operation of essential civilian infrastructure. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at checkpoints in non-government-controlled Zaichenko and Nova Marivka...