Spot Report by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): Mine explosion kills two civilians, injures another near checkpoint close to contact line

This report is for the media and the general public.

At around 12:40 on 23 February, while moving south past the forward position of the armed formations along the contact line on road H-20 near Olenivka (non-government-controlled, 23km south-west of Donetsk), about 200m south of the above-mentioned position of the armed formations, the SMM saw the burning wreckage of an overturned minivan on the soft ground of a median strip between the road lanes. Within a radius of 15m of the wreckage, the Mission saw debris from the vehicle scattered around, including three tyres and two doors, all scorched. The SMM saw a fresh crater in the median strip about 3m from the wreckage as well as three mine hazard signs: one lying on the ground less than 10m from the crater and the other two attached to a post and a barrier nearby. The SMM assessed that the vehicle had detonated an explosive device (probably an anti-tank mine) in the median strip.

On 24 February, the SMM followed up on reports of three civilians involved in the explosion. The head of the morgue in Dokuchaievsk (non-government-controlled, 30km south-west of Donetsk) told the SMM that the bodies of a man (34 years old) and of a woman (85 years old) had been brought to the morgue on the afternoon of 23 February. He said that the two civilians had died from severe injuries caused by a mine explosion.

In Shakhtarsk (non-government controlled, 50km east of Donetsk), a man (59 years old) told the SMM that he had been one of the three people in the aforementioned minivan. He said that on 23 February, he had been returning to non-government-controlled areas with his mother and a driver after having received pensions in government-controlled areas. He added that an explosion had occurred after the vehicle had entered the median strip on road H-20 just south of the armed formations’ forward position. The man had scratches and bruises on his cheeks, as well as a bandage covering his head.

The incident site is located in the area between the forward positions of the armed formations and the Ukrainian Armed Forces (about 4km south-west of the site) near Berezove (government-controlled, 31km south-west of Donetsk). The SMM had previously seen at least ten freshly dug circular mounds approximately 30-40cm in diameter in the same median strip and mine hazard signs surrounding it (see SMM Daily Report of 2 July 2018). The Novotroitske entry-exit checkpoint near Berezove is one of the five official routes for civilians to cross the contact line.