Spot Report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): SMM patrol comes under fire, no one hurt
This report is for media and the general public.
On 9 April, an SMM patrol, comprised of five members in two armoured vehicles, was in Zhovanka, a government-controlled part of Zaitseve (50km north-east of Donetsk). The patrol was accompanied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces head of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) office in Toretsk.
At 12:52hrs, the SMM heard an explosion assessed as caused either by an 82mm mortar or a recoilless gun round impacting at a distance of approximately 100-200m south-east of its position. Within the next two seconds, small-arms shots were fired towards the SMM position coming approximately from the same direction of the impact. The SMM heard at least three-four bullets flying one-two metres above their heads. The SMM immediately took cover behind the vehicles, and then got inside them and left the location. No SMM members were hurt or vehicles damaged. The patrol returned safely to its base in Svitlodarsk at 16:00.