Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 19:30 (Kyiv time), 25 August 2015

This report is for the media and the general public.

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by the parties and security considerations. An increase in ceasefire violations was observed in Donetsk and in Luhansk. The SMM facilitated a localised ceasefire that allowed a team to conduct gas pipeline repairs in Luhansk. The SMM conducted crater analysis in Horlivka and Sopyne.

From its position at the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) observation post at the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled central railway station (8km north-west of Donetsk city centre), the SMM observed an increase in ceasefire violations compared with the previous days, with multiple incoming and outgoing explosions caused by artillery, small-arms fire and automatic grenade launcher, most of which occurred in areas to the north, north-east and north-west[1].

In “DPR”-controlled Horlivka (39km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM saw damage caused by shelling that, according to members of the city council, occurred at approximately 04:00hrs on August 25. At school number 25, the SMM saw a pool of blood on the floor and shrapnel impacts to the guard’s cabin. There was shrapnel damage on the western wall of the building though no crater at the site. According to “DPR” members, a 56-year old female guard at the building had died from shrapnel wounds. The SMM confirmed this at the city morgue. On Kirova Street 39, the SMM saw a destroyed apartment in a building and two impacts to the roof. The SMM observed a crater close to the entrance at school number 16 (also on Kirova Street). All windows facing west were shattered. At school number 14 (Gertsena Street 32) impact damage was observed to the roof and grounds. Walls facing north and west were damaged by shrapnel. The SMM observed that the north-facing exterior and interior walls of an apartment at Nesterov Street 99 had been badly damaged. The SMM conducted crater analysis at school numbers 14, 16 and 25 and assessed that the shells most likely used were 120mm calibre mortar, fired from the north-north-west. Bystanders expressed their anger at the SMM. “DPR” members and Russian Armed Forces JCCC officers tried to calm angry residents.

In government-controlled Sopyne (16km east of Mariupol), a Ukrainian Armed Forces officer told the SMM that their compound was hit by shelling in the early morning of 25 August. The SMM conducted analysis on craters in the vicinity and assessed that they were caused by 122mm or 152mm calibre artillery shells, fired from the north-east. According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, one soldier was killed and two were injured.

The SMM visited the hospital in government-controlled Volodarske (21km north-west of Mariupol), following reports of the death of a child as a result of unexploded ordnance (UXO) detonation. The doctor on duty at the time of the incident told the SMM that one four year old boy had been killed and three others injured when UXO they had been playing with exploded. The three injured boys remain in hospital. At the scene of the explosion the fifteen year old sister of one of the injured boys told the SMM that the children took UXOs from a nearby Ukrainian Armed Forces training field, which she said was not guarded and therefore, accessible to anyone. The deputy chief of the local police station in Volodarske also told the SMM that the training field is not guarded.

The overall situation in Luhansk remained tense, with the SMM observing ceasefire violations in the government-controlled areas of Shchastia (20km north of Luhansk), Staryi Aidar (20km north-west of Luhansk), Toshkivka (60km north-north-west of Luhansk) and Zolote (60km north-west of Luhansk) and in “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”)-controlled Yuzhna Lomuvatka (59km south-west of Luhansk).

The SMM arranged and monitored a localised ceasefire so that gas pipes could be repaired in an area near the contact line between the “LPR”-controlled villages of Smile (32km north-west of Luhansk) and Dovhe (23km north-west of Luhansk). The repairs were successfully completed by the Luhansk main gas pipeline company.

In “LPR”-controlled Pervomaisk (57km west of Luhansk), the chief engineer and deputy chief engineer of the local power plant showed the SMM damage to the plant’s transformer, which they said had been hit by 16 shells between 21 and 23 August. The SMM analysed 14 craters, assessed to have been caused by 82mm and 122mm shells, all fired from the north. According to the engineer, the plant is now running at reduced capacity, with approximately 50% of consumers without electricity supply as a consequence.

The SMM visited one Ukrainian Armed Forces heavy weapons holding area for the first time, the location of which complied with the respective withdrawal lines.

The SMM revisited one “DPR” heavy weapons holding area, whose location complied with the respective withdrawal line and verified that all previously recorded weapons were in situ.

The SMM observed a T-72 main battle tank near “DPR”-controlled Horlivka (39km north-east of Donetsk), in violation of respective withdrawal lines.

Travelling east near government-controlled Nyzhnoteple (25km north of Luhansk), the SMM saw four aircraft, three flying south, one north. The SMM estimated that the aircraft were 20km east of its position, but could not determine their altitude.

At the regional state administration building in Chernivtsi, the SMM observed approximately 80 people (mostly men) protesting against what they said was the inaction of local authorities to combat illegal wood cutting in the region. Organizers, from the non-governmental organization “Patriotic Community of Bukovyna”, called for lustration of those involved. The head of the regional state administration told protestors that he will address their concerns.

Outside the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Kyiv, the SMM observed approximately 80 men and women (ranging from youths to middle aged) protesting against the decision of a Russian court to sentence a Ukrainian filmmaker and a civil activist to imprisonment. Fifteen police officers and a national guard unit protected the premises. The protestors dispersed peacefully.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kherson, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv.

[1] For a complete breakdown of the ceasefire violations, please see the annexed table.