Daily and spot reports from the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The Ukrainian and Russian heads of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) informed the SMM of an agreed draft schedule for gradual disengagement of forces along the line of contact.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, and in particular the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination. The SMM was briefly held at a number of check points...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The SMM went to the international border crossing points, Izvaryne and Gukovo, between Ukraine and the Russian Federation...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In Kharkiv the SMM followed up on reports of an explosion at a pub in the city centre...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with a focus on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation in Donetsk remained tense. Two of SMM members were held for 2.5 hours at a Ukrainian checkpoint...

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with a focus on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In Kharkiv and Odessa the SMM observed rallies for the anniversary of the October Revolution.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). The SMM visited the border crossing point between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in Novoazovsk (122km south of Donetsk).

The provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, and in particular the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC), remained the focus of the SMM’s monitoring activities. There was intense shelling in Donetsk city, whilst Mariupol and its surroundings remained calm...

The provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum as well as the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination remained at the focus of SMM monitoring. In Donetsk and Luhansk the situation remained tense. In Donetsk the SMM heard shelling from the northern outskirts of the city...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination. An SMM UAV was subject to military-grade GPS jamming...

The provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum as well as the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination remained the focus of SMM monitoring. Even though the SMM did not hear shelling in Donetsk city, the situation remained tense throughout the region. The SMM observed several demonstrations in the rest of the country...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In the Odesa region the SMM followed up on an incident at a local district administration building...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the activities of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination. In Lviv the SMM observed a lustration march.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense. A number of shelling instances were noted...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense. Shelling resumed in the Mariupol area. The NGO “Territorial Defence” in Ivano-Frankivsk is prepared to protect the region from possible military and terrorist threats.

The situation remained calm on Election Day throughout most of Ukraine, including around Shchastya in the Luhansk region, where a local truce seems to have been arranged, and in Donetsk city. A number of frontline villages to the south of Donetsk city were, however, subjected to shelling...

The SMM continued focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation remained volatile in Donetsk and Luhansk. The SMM was prevented from entering the city of Telmanove...

The SMM continued focusing on the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation remained volatile in Donetsk and Luhansk. In Kharkiv local authorities reported to the SMM that the number of registered IDPs had doubled since August. The SMM continued to receive reports of false bomb threats in Lviv...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation in Luhansk and Donetsk remained tense. Police in Odessa told the SMM about discovered explosives and one RPG in one of the wagons of a passenger train coming from Luhansk...

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions the situation remained volatile. The SMM observed numerous cases of non-compliance with the provisions of the Minsk Memorandum and received reports of many others. In other parts of the country the situation remained calm.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and within this context the work of the Joint Centre for Co-ordination and Control (JCCC). The Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions the situation remained volatile. In other parts of the country the situation remained calm. In Lviv the SMM observed a political rally organised by “Right Sector”.

In addition to its regular monitoring, the SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum. The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained volatile, whereas other parts of the country remained calm...

The SMM met with Ukrainian and Russian heads of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination in Debaltseve to discuss implementation of the Minsk Memorandum. The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense, whereas the western part of the country remained calm...

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. The SMM visited a number of border crossing points between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Rallies and marches were organized in a number of cities throughout the country on 14 October to mark the 72nd anniversary of the creation of the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (“UPA”).

Civilians were killed and injured in an artillery attack on a village north-east of Mariupol. Ukrainian soldiers attempting to relieve a surrounded Ukrainian military checkpoint north-west of Luhansk city were killed and injured when they were ambushed by irregular armed forces.

Focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum, the SMM continued monitoring Donetsk and Luhansk areas where sporadic artillery shelling was still reported and observed. The SMM also gathered additional information about the concrete future implementation process in Ukraine of the newly adopted Law on Lustration.

The SMM observed the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum. The Mission continued to receive reports, and directly observed, shelling occurrences in a number of areas. In Kyiv civil society representatives expressed concern for the fate of those held captive by illegally armed groups in Donbas...

Focusing on the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, the SMM continued monitoring the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, still noting that violence is continuing in a number of places.

The SMM noted a decrease in violence in a number of areas in Donbas. The lustration issue was debated in Lviv and Odesa...

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 representatives of the Central Election Commission addressed some of the challenges that IDPs could face during the upcoming elections.

Focusing on the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, the SMM continued to monitor the Luhansk and Donetsk regions where the situation remained tense and highly volatile...

Focusing on the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, the SMM continued monitoring the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, still noting that violence is continuing in a number of places.

Focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, the SMM continued monitoring the situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions where shelling continued to take place. The situation in the other regions of Ukraine remained calm.

In the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and in particular in the city of Donetsk and its surroundings, the situation remained tense. Displacement continued in the rest of the country.

In the city of Donetsk and its surroundings, the overall security situation is deteriorating. An ICRC staff member was killed as a result of heavy shelling...

In Donetsk city shelling on a residential area caused civilian casualties near a school.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions focusing on the implementation of the Minsk Protocol/Memorandum. In the city of Donetsk and surrounding areas, the overall situation was generally tense...

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...

The situation in Donetsk and Luhansk continues to be tense. The main power plant in the Luhansk region was severely damaged as a result of shelling...

The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained volatile. The SMM observed a demonstration in front of the Ukrainian parliament in favour of lustration, and received accounts about searches conducted in the office of the Mejlis in Simferopol...