News and press releases

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine is aware of the reporting of the ARD programme «Fakt» on Tuesday, 17 July. The Mission is concerned about any alleged breach of its security and is determined to examine all the allegations thoroughly in accordance with established procedures...

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the evenings of 13 and 14 July, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 14 and 15 July, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and the same number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; its access remained restricted in all three areas. It was also restricted in areas of Donetsk region outside government control, including again near Zaichenko and Bezimenne, and in Horlivka. The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Novozvanivka. The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to a phenol sludge reservoir near Zalizne...

BERLIN, 13 July 2018 – An OSCE Parliamentary Assembly seminar held this week in Berlin, Germany, focused on how to prevent ethnic conflicts through law and the exchange of best practice, notably through the protection of national minorities and accommodating ethnic diversity. The participants discussed in an informal setting the central role which parliamentarians could play in forming government policy towards national minorities and in promoting legislation that can protect the rights of national minorities.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, compared with the previous reporting period, and no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. Small-arms fire was directed at an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near Lozove and at an SMM long-range UAV near Sakhanka. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it again observed military presence inside the Zolote disengagement area and saw a white signal flare fired near a checkpoint south of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas.* It was also restricted in areas of Donetsk region outside government control near Lozove, Zaichenko and Bezimenne.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. An SMM long-range UAV recorded outgoing explosions and impacts close to a position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Sakhanka, while a position of the armed formations was only about 260m away. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to other essential civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Zaitseve, Novotoshkivske, Zhovte and Stanytsia Luhanska.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Krasnohorivka and Zoria. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations near the Petrivske disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as near Zaichenko and near Dovzhanske, near the border with the Russian Federation.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Muratove and Kreminna. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to other essential civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Zaitseve, Novotoshkivske, Raivka and Stanytsia Luhanska. The SMM monitored a court hearing in Kherson and a gathering in Kyiv.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, compared with the previous reporting period, and no ceasefire violations in Luhansk region. The SMM continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it again observed military presence inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas. Its access was also restricted near Khrustalnyi, Zaichenko and Kozatske, as well as near Izvaryne and Sievernyi, near the border with the Russian Federation, and near Druzheliubivka in Kherson region.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines near Starolaspa, Novooleksandrivka and Khrustalnyi. The Mission continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring the security situation around the station, as well as repairs and maintenance works to other essential civilian infrastructure near Zalizne, Artema, Stanytsia Luhanska, Novotoshkivske and Raivka. The SMM monitored two gatherings in Kyiv, a gathering in Dnipro and followed up on court cases in Kharkiv region related to the fishing ship Nord...

BRUSSELS, 12 July 2018- The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) hosted an introductory meeting between Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov on 11 July in Brussels. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the meeting. This was the first high-level meeting between the sides in this format since elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan.