OSCE Special Monitoring Mission facilitated retrieval of the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier’s body

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, on 19 November 2015, facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire on the contact line near Zolote, Luhansk region, enabling the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) medics to recover the body of a member of the UAF demining team. He had reportedly been killed in a mine accident on 15 November, along with the two colleagues.

Three UAF demining team members were killed while securing an area near the contact line, close to government-controlled Zolote. While remains of two persons were retrieved soon after the mine incident, one body was not accessible. The Ukrainian Armed Forces requested support from the SMM to facilitate the search of the area outside government control for remains of the third soldier.

Within its mandate, the SMM facilitated adherence to the ceasefire with members of the "Lugansk People’s Republic" to enable a secure retrieval operation. The Ukrainian medical squad and a demining engineer from Zolote carried out the recovery operation at the location of the incident. The medical squad recovered the body and personal belongings of the soldier.

Since the summer of 2015, on a number of occasions the SMM has facilitated adherence to the ceasefire to enable technicians to repair water, electricity and gas infrastructure along the contact line.