News and press releases

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission observed bullet holes in windows of residential buildings in Dokuchaievsk. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it heard small-arms fire near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Lobacheve, Donetskyi and Bohdanivka. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station. The Mission observed a gathering in Kyiv and the vandalism of a monument in Odessa. In Berehove, the SMM followed up on the killing of a member of the Roma community...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKIY, Russian Federation. The Observer Mission (OM) continues to operate 24/7 at both Border Crossing Points (BCPs). The overall number of border crossings by persons slightly decreased at both BCPs. On 28 June, the seventy-six Russian convoy of 17 vehicles crossed into Ukraine and returned through the Donetsk Border Crossing Point...

The functional independence of prosecutors in Eastern Europe was the topic of an expert meeting organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 2 and 3 July 2018. Sixteen participants (8 women and 8 men) – prosecutors, lawyers, and representatives of

With the support of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek an expert review of the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1540 on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in Central Asian states and Belarus was held in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan on 28 June 2018...

Thirty legal and civil society professionals from both banks of Dniester/Nistru River, as well as representatives of the Moldovan Ombudsman’s office, completed a three-day training course on human rights monitoring organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova from 28 to 30 June 2018. The course was designed to enhance the capacity of the participants and their role in monitoring the human rights situation and to strengthen co-operation between the legal communities on both banks...

VIENNA, 2 July 2018 – Strengthening law-enforcement and judicial responses to violence against women, raising awareness about its multiple and invisible forms and empowering victims are crucial elements of any effective strategy to prevent such violence, participants said today at the opening of a two-day OSCE conference in Vienna...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region between the evenings of 29 and 30 June, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 30 June and 1 July – and following a recommitment to the ceasefire – the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed fresh damage caused by gunfire in a residential area of Yasynuvata. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it saw a fresh crater and again Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and was restricted also in Kozatske, near Izvaryne at the border with the Russian Federation and on three occasions in Zaichenko. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Muratove. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station...