News and press releases

Focusing on the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, the SMM continued monitoring the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, still noting that violence is continuing in a number of places.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum. While the situation remained calm in the Luhansk region, the SMM observed ongoing fighting at Donetsk International airport and heard sporadic shelling in Donetsk northern sectors (Avdiivka). The SMM also heard artillery and mortar fire in the north-eastern sectors of Mariupol (Sartana and Oktaybr). The SMM monitored a simultaneous release of prisoners between the Ukrainian forces and representatives of “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”). In Kharkiv the situation remained calm in the hours which followed the toppling of the local Lenin statue.

Many Roma in Ukraine are facing even greater challenges due to the current conflict in the country, says a report released by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 29 September 2014 during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.

BISHKEK, 29 September 2014 – Representatives of Ukrainian and Russian journalists’ unions condemned the killing, beating and detention of journalists in the zone of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine in a meeting organized by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović on 26 September in Vienna...

The SMM noted a number of instances of artillery fire in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM on 21 September met the leader of an irregular armed group – a self-styled Cossack commander – in Pervomais’k (70km north-west of Luhansk city). He insisted on being told in advance of any future SMM visit to territory controlled by him, saying the SMM’s security could not be guaranteed otherwise. The “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) has previously told the SMM that the “commander” in question is not under the command or control of the “LPR”. (See Daily Report 139/2014)

Identifying needs and possible strategies to address human rights priorities in Ukraine was the focus of a meeting organized by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 18 and 19 September 2014. The consultation meeting, with participation of 23 representatives

VIENNA, 19 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about the fate of Avdet, the weekly newspaper of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, following a week of acts of intimidation by the de-facto authorities in Crimea...