News and press releases

VIENNA, 23 August 2014 – On behalf of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council, expressed his heartfelt condolences to the Government of Lithuania and the family of Mykola Zelenec, the Honorary Consul of Lithuania, who was murdered by illegally armed groups in Luhansk. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, Greminger underlined, and condemned the tragic murder. This is another sad indicator that violence in the east of Ukraine must be ended and that all needs to be done to de-escalate the situation urgently in order to find back to meaningful dialogue, Greminger concluded.

BERN, August 23, 2014 – Deploring that the agreement by Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the modalities of delivering the convoy aid was not implemented in good faith, Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any actions which could contribute to the further escalation of the situation. Stressing that humanitarian aid had to be delivered in accordance with humanitarian principles and in full respect of Ukrainian sovereignty, Burkhalter urged all sides to help transform this convoy aid into a cooperative endeavor again.

DONETSK CHECKPOINT, Russian Federation, 22 August 2014- On 22 August (until 15:55) a total number of 227 vehicles passed the Donetsk Border Crossing Point (BCP) control area towards the border between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Out of the total number of vehicles, 37 had been inspected. In addition, out of the 227 vehicles, between 27-30 were support vehicles and rest of them trucks.

DONETSK CHECKPOINT, Russian Federation, 22 August 2014- Today at 12:08 local time the first 34 trucks, which had been inspected during the previous day, started to move and crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border without escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)...

Further allegations of human rights abuses emerge in Donbas...

Fighting in and around Donetsk continues, as living conditions deteriorate for the civilian population. The SMM met internally displaced persons (IDPs) leaving Luhansk. In Chernivtsi soldiers protest against mobilization...

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, Russian Federation, 20 August 2014- The Observer Mission (OM) reached full operational capacity and almost completed the replacement of temporary mission members. Observation at the Border Crossing-Points is conducted every day in three eight-hour shifts. Cross-border traffic flow decreased at both Border Crossing-Points, predominantly into the Russian Federation. The OM received reports from people fleeing from Ukraine about the dire situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The report covers increased Russian military activity in the vicinity of the Border Crossing-Points...