News and press releases

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region. A man was injured by gunfire in Yasynuvata. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in training areas near non-government-controlled Miusynsk and Ternove. Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM continued to observe the operation of a shuttle bus service in government-controlled areas north of the bridge. Trains were spotted moving east and west in non-government-controlled areas near the border with the Russian Federation. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs to water pipelines near Holubivka and Maiorsk, as well as to powerlines near Spartak. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at checkpoints in non-government-controlled areas of southern Donetsk region near Zaichenko and Shevchenko...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The SMM followed up on reports of a man injured by a mine explosion in Pryvitne. • It saw damage to a residential house in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. • Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM continued to observe demining activities by the State Emergency Services of Ukraine and the operation of a shuttle bus service. • The Mission saw weapons in violations of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line in Luhansk region. • The Mission saw long queues at checkpoints of the armed formations along the contact line. • The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to facilitate repairs of critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. • Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued, including at checkpoints in non-government-controlled areas of southern Donetsk region near Zaichenko and Novolaspa.*

BRATISLAVA, 18 July 2019- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajčák welcomed the new recommitment to an unlimited ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, starting from 21 July at 00 hrs. 01 min. (Kyiv time), as agreed at the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group held in Minsk on 17 July.

ERGNETI, 18 July 2019- The 94th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held today in Ergneti. 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, co-facilitated the meeting....

MINSK, 18 July 2019 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its working groups in Minsk on 17 July 2019:

MINSK, 17 July 2019- The Trilateral Contact Group, with the participation of representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, acknowledging the positive impact of the practice of recommitment to ceasefire, stressing the importance of ensuring peace and calm for the population, and also guided by earlier agreements and obligations of the sides...

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • A man from Chermalyk died from shrapnel injuries. • The SMM saw fresh damage caused by gunfire to civilian properties in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka and Marinka, and craters caused by shelling near residential houses in Khreshchatytske. • Inside the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM continued to observe demining activities and the operation of a shuttle bus service. • The Mission saw anti-tank mines and a wire obstacle on the road inside the Zolote disengagement area. • It saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region; specifically, it saw mortars near Sentianivka and multiple launch rocket systems in a training area near Miusynsk. • The SMM saw for the first time unexploded ordnance near Molodizhne and in Sentianivka.