OSCE Principal Deputy Chief Monitor in Ukraine visits children’s hospital in Donetsk, assesses possible locations for observation post and stationary cameras

The Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Alexander Hug visited a children’s hospital in Donetsk on 7 December 2015 to discuss a request by its manager to reopen the premises. It was agreed that reopening the hospital was currently impossible without firm security guarantees from both sides.

The Donetsk Children’s Hospital Number 1 is located in the north of the city, where the risk of shelling due to the proximity of the remains of the airport is high. The clinic was evacuated because of security considerations last summer. The recent increase in hostilities in the area has thwarted plans to reopen it.

Hug subsequently went to the remains of the airport to inspect two sites that could serve as an observation post and also host stationary cameras for the SMM. The two cameras, one at the “DPR”-held Oktyabrsky Mine, the other in government-controlled Avdiivka, will allow the Mission to observe the area around the site of the Donetsk airport - one of the tensest locations in eastern Ukraine – around-the-clock and in a 360 degree-radius, thereby greatly enhancing the Mission’s monitoring capacity.

Representatives of both sides said that they welcome such a move. Hug expressed hope that this will help to ease tensions and allow civilians to return to their homes. He added that the Mission hopes to install more of these cameras along the line of contact in the near future.

The SMM will install the cameras near the airport once the technical details at the sites have been assessed.