News and press releases

MOSCOW, 19 February 2019 – On an official visit as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák today met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss various issues on the OSCE agenda...

• Compared with the previous 24 hours, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • The SMM lost a long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in non-government-controlled areas of Luhansk region. • The SMM heard explosions and saw two craters caused by the detonation of explosive devices near its residence in Donetsk city. • It saw small-arms fire damage to an apartment building in Dokuchaievsk and to a former kindergarten in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. • The Mission saw military hardware inside the Zolote disengagement area; an SMM UAV also spotted probable anti-tank mines laid across the road inside the area. • It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. • Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere. It was also restricted at a checkpoint near Verkhnoshyrokivske and at a compound near Donske.* • A gathering in Kyiv commemorated those who lost their lives during Maidan-related events in 2014...

Between 13:27 and 13:38 hrs, 18 February, an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experienced dual GPS jamming while flying at an altitude of approximately 6,000ft in an area near Donetskyi (non-government-controlled, 49km west of Luhansk), in proximity of the contact line...

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.