Daily and spot reports from the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum. While the situation remained calm in the Luhansk region, the SMM observed ongoing fighting at Donetsk International airport and heard sporadic shelling in Donetsk northern sectors (Avdiivka). The SMM also heard artillery and mortar fire in the north-eastern sectors of Mariupol (Sartana and Oktaybr). The SMM monitored a simultaneous release of prisoners between the Ukrainian forces and representatives of “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”). In Kharkiv the situation remained calm in the hours which followed the toppling of the local Lenin statue.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where it observed and received reports of shelling in a number of locations, including Shchastya and Donetsk city. In Kharkiv the SMM observed a pro-Ukrainian unity rally which culminated in the removal of a statue of Lenin from one of the city’s central squares...

Two incidents involving explosions occurred in Kharkiv on 25 September; the SMM visited both sites. The first explosion occurred in the Komintern district at 02:30hrs at the office of a lawyer who is also an independent candidate in the legislative elections as well as a pro-unity activist. The police confirmed that the explosion resulted from an RPG...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum, noting, in particular, intense shelling around the airport in Donetsk city...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum. In Kyiv, in a large demonstration, protesters threatened the authorities with a “New Maidan” after the Central Election Commission refused to register members of the “Volya” party for the upcoming parliamentary elections...

The SMM observed the situation in Donbas, with a particular focus on implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum signed on 19 September in Minsk. It also continued to monitor the situation of IDPs...

The SMM noted a number of instances of artillery fire in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM on 21 September met the leader of an irregular armed group – a self-styled Cossack commander – in Pervomais’k (70km north-west of Luhansk city). He insisted on being told in advance of any future SMM visit to territory controlled by him, saying the SMM’s security could not be guaranteed otherwise. The “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) has previously told the SMM that the “commander” in question is not under the command or control of the “LPR”. (See Daily Report 139/2014)

The SMM continued to monitor the full range of issues within its mandate, with a particular focus on compliance with the provisions of the memorandum signed on 19 September in Minsk. It also observed rallies in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa against the Russian Federation’s policy towards Ukraine...

The SMM continued to monitor the non-use of weapons provision of the Minsk Protocol, noting sporadic shelling around Donetsk and Mariupol cities, and in an area west of Luhansk city. Elsewhere in Donbas, however, calm prevailed, most notably in Luhansk city, where, in addition to a cessation of violence, normal services are beginning to be restored...

The SMM continued to carry out activities related to the monitoring of non-use of weapons in areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Interlocutors from the Crimean Tatar community informed the SMM that the building of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in Simferopol had been searched by Russian Security Services...