Daily and spot reports from the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations, but fewer explosions in Donetsk region and fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas. The SMM cameras recorded ceasefire violations between 2km and 10km east and east-north-east and west of the Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement areas respectively, all assessed as outside the disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere. Armed “DPR” members impeded the SMM’s access to areas east of Mariupol for a fifth consecutive day in Verkhnoshyrokivske. For more than seven hours “DPR” members held the SMM and its monitoring equipment at checkpoints near non-government-controlled Olenivka and prevented it from leaving.* The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs of infrastructure in Shchastia, Zolote and Artema. The Mission visited one border area not under government control...

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer ceasefire violations in Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas. Its access there and elsewhere remained restricted, including by mines on road M03.*

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas, where its access remained restricted. The Mission saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in Donetsk city. It observed that weapons continued to be absent from storage sites. The SMM followed up on reports that a man was injured in an explosion in government-controlled Zalizne. It facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs of infrastructure in Shchastia, Artema, Krasnyi Lyman and Zolote. The SMM monitored one border area not under government control. The Mission observed convoys of trucks marked with “Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation” in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In Kyiv, the SMM monitored a protest in support of the former Head of Odessa Regional State Administration. It monitored a religious procession of 15,000 to 20,000 people through Kyiv...

Between the evenings of 21 and 22 July the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 22 and 23 July the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas; it recorded ceasefire violations in the Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted there and elsewhere, including in Staromykhailivka and again in Novoazovsk, where military-type vehicles were seen travelling from the Novoazovsk area towards the border with the Russian Federation and vice versa. The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. It continued to observe fresh craters and recent excavations in the area of Kruta Balka and in Olenivka. The SMM visited four border areas not under government control in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The Mission monitored a strike at a coal mine in Pryvillia and a public gathering near Kharkiv...

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. On two occasions the Mission interrupted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights due to ceasefire violations near them, assessed at least on one occasion as aimed at the UAV.* The SMM followed up on reports of civilian casualties and damage to civilian properties caused by shelling in Kashtanove and in Donetsk city.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. At a government checkpoint near Novotoshkivske, the Mission observed a bullet hole in a Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicle that may have been caused by gunfire shortly beforehand. The Mission followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Donetsk and Luhansk cities and observed damage from shelling in Zolote-4. It continued monitoring the disengagement areas; the Mission’s access remained restricted there and elsewhere, including Mineralne.* The SMM recorded ceasefire violations in the Zolote disengagement area. It continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to the Mykhailivka-Almazna high-voltage power lines near Pervomaisk. The SMM visited two border areas not under government control in Donetsk region. In Kyiv the Mission followed up on reports of an incident at a café and monitored four protests...

Between the evenings of 30 June and 1 July the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 1 and 2 July the Mission recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM followed up on reports of a fatality from Staromykhailivka, a civilian causality from Dokuchaievsk and observed impact sites in Marinka, Sakhanka and Uzhivka. The Mission continued monitoring the three disengagement areas; it recorded a ceasefire violation in Zolote disengagement area. Its access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere, including a border area not controlled by the Government in Novoazovsk, as well as in Pokrovske, Oleksandrivka, Staromykhailivka and Kadiivka.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of respective withdrawal lines. The SMM monitored repairs to the power lines in Mykhailivka-Almazna and Vasylivka. Security arrangements were re-established around the SMM’s office in Donetsk city in the morning of 2 July; the Mission had asked the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination to ensure presence at the SMM’s office until further notice. The Mission visited four border areas not under government control in Izvaryne, Marynivka, Uspenka and Voznesenivka...