News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region between the evenings of 9 and 10 November, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 10 and 11 November, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. Two SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicles came under small-arms fire in Kadiivka and Novotoshkivske. In non-government-controlled areas, the SMM monitored the security situation on the day of reported “elections” announced for 11 November. An SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle spotted fresh mortar impacts at the Bakhmut Agrarian Union’s pig farm near Novoluhanske. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote disengagement areas. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as in three separate areas near the border with the Russian Federation, including Novoazovsk. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable demining near Nyzhnoteple...

ROME, 12 November 2018 – Greater transparency is needed to achieve comprehensive security in the OSCE area, OSCE PA President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) said in a speech today in Rome. He noted that parliamentarians are essential partners in the fight against corruption...

COPENHAGEN, 12 November 2018 – In response to the holding of “elections” in the so-called “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine over the weekend, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (Georgia) issued the following statement:

VIENNA, 12 November 2018 – In Vienna today, Makis Voridis, Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism, addressed the Security Committee of the OSCE and is holding a series of bilateral meetings to build synergy between the OSCE’s executive and parliamentary structures on preventing and countering terrorism.

The Mission saw buildings with signs that read “polling stations”. It noted a slight increase in the presence of armed formations in some areas of non-government controlled Donetsk city centre. Some civilians expressed concern to the SMM about “voting”...

Vienna, 11 November 2018. Today, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir, called on all authorities to drop the request to the editor of the Times of Malta to disclose a source of information used in a report on a planned takeover of a building project, after the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) made such request to the daily newspaper.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicle experienced severe jamming near Korsun. It followed up on reports of shelling at the Bakhmut Agrarian Union’s pig farm near Novoluhanske. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Bila Hora and Zhelanne. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations near the Zolote and Petrivske disengagement areas. The Mission’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas, as well as at two border crossing points not under government control. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to houses and essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line, as well as to enable demining near Nyzhnoteple. In Odessa, the SMM observed graffiti on two monuments associated with the 1905 mutiny on the battleship Potemkin.