Spot Report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): Small-arms fire hit SMM vehicle in Marinka

This report is for media and the general public.

On 16 January at 10:44hrs [1], an SMM patrol comprised of three monitors, one paramedic and one language assistant in two armoured vehicles arrived at a field in the vicinity of government-controlled Marinka (23km south-west of Donetsk) – some 1.5km from the contact line – to conduct a general assessment of the damages to a gas pipeline. Six Ukrainian Armed Forces officers of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC), one Ukrainian Armed Forces civil-military administration member, five members of a demining team and five workers of a gas pipeline company were present. At 11:40hrs, while monitoring at the site, the SMM heard the sound of one or two shots. In the same moment, the SMM saw a hole in the trunk window of one of the vehicles, which was parked, facing a west-south-westerly direction (the rear facing an east-north-easterly direction). At the moment the shots were heard, one monitor and one language assistant were inside the damaged vehicle and one monitor was outside the vehicle in a distance of about 1-2m. One monitor and one paramedic were inside the other vehicle parked 10m from the damaged vehicle. Another SMM patrol, positioned in the “DPR”-controlled outskirts of Donetsk city about 20km south-west of the Donetsk city centre on the other side of the contact line, did not hear any firing at the time of the incident.

The SMM left the area immediately. Subsequently, the SMM noted that the damaged trunk window was totally shattered. This window was not bullet-proof, whereas a bullet-proof pane divides the trunk and the passenger cabin of the car. No bullet or projectile was recovered from inside the vehicle. Beside the trunk window no other damage was observed inside or outside of the vehicle.

There were no injuries to SMM members. The SMM returned safely to its base in Donetsk city at 13:28hrs.

The SMM informed both Ukrainian and Russian representatives at the JCCC about the incident asking them to take follow-up actions. The Mission will report about JCCC follow-up actions in its regular public reporting.

[1] All times referred to in this report are in Eastern European Time.