News and press releases

Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 15 and 16 February, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk regions. Compared with the previous 24 hours, between the evenings of 16 and 17 February, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM saw gunfire damage to residential properties in Yasynuvata and a destroyed house in Novoluhanske. It saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside and near the Zolote disengagement area, and military hardware and personnel inside the Petrivske disengagement area. It heard small-arms fire assessed as aimed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle near non-government-controlled Zhovte, Luhansk region. The SMM saw an aircraft flying over non-government-controlled areas in the security zone. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. It was also restricted near Zaichenko and near Izvaryne, an area close to the border with the Russian Federation. The Mission continued to observe hardship faced by civilians at checkpoints. The SMM observed a public gathering against parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church changing affiliation in Storozhynets, Chernivtsi region. It observed public gatherings in Kyiv, including commemorations of recent events in eastern Ukraine...

At about 08:00 on the morning of 18 February in non-government-controlled Donetsk city, while standing in front of the Mission’s residence on Pushkina Boulevard, two SMM staff members heard at least two explosions approximately 100-150 metres south-south-east. Other SMM personnel were in the residence. Nobody was injured...

MUNICH, Germany, 17 February 2019 – At the Munich Security Conference, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Miroslav Lajčák and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, both stressed that no single country can tackle today’s security challenges alone. Dialogue, co-operation and multilateralism are the only way to a safer future they reiterated, a message shared by many participants of this leading global gathering that focuses on security policy as well as current and future security challenges.

BRUSSELS, 17 February 2019 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Miroslav Lajčák met today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin ahead of tomorrow’s discussion on Ukraine at the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. The SMM observed damage in Kruta Hora and Pikuzy as a result of shelling. The Mission saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines near non-government-controlled Khoroshe, Lobacheve and Pervomaisk. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside and near the Zolote disengagement area. It observed damage as a result of shelling in residential areas near the Zolote disengagement area. Members of the armed formations fired 10m away from an SMM patrol at an SMM UAV flying over the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable the operation of essential civilian infrastructure in Donetsk region. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and again near non-government-controlled Novoazovsk, Oleksandrivske and Verkhnoshyrokivske.

VIENNA/SARAJEVO, 15 February 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bruce G. Berton, today condemned several threats made against journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina...

VIENNA, 15 February 2019 – At today’s second meeting of the Informal Working Group on Scales of Contributions of the OSCE, Special Representative of the Chairmanship Slovak State Secretary Lukáš Parízek, who chairs the Group, urged all participating States to focus above all else on management and finances of the OSCE...