News and press releases

On 4 February, an SMM patrol consisting of five members and two armoured vehicles was positioned near a checkpoint of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, approximately 300m north of the disengagement area near Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk), to monitor the security situation.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Damage to a house in Chermalyk and small-arms damage to a hospital in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations and observed newly dug trenches inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable maintenance works to essential civilian infrastructure. Restrictions of the Mission’s access in all three disengagement areas continued.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The Mission saw weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The Mission saw the body of a deceased man near the entry-exit checkpoint at Stanytsia Luhanska. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere.* The SMM followed up on reports of a confrontation at a church in Zhytomyr region.

KYIV, 17 January 2019 – Concluding a two-day official visit to Ukraine, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák said he was shocked by the alarming conditions of people living near the contact line in the country’s east, and called on the sides to step up their efforts for a peaceful political solution to the crisis.

Compared with the previous reporting period, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Small-arms fire damaged a window of an apartment building in Dokuchaievsk. A civilian woman died while crossing the contact line near Maiorsk entry-exit checkpoint. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure in Luhansk region. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas.* The SMM continued to follow up on a fire at the Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv. The Mission observed a calm situation at the crossing point in Chonhar and at a Ukrainian State Border Guard Service position in Valok, in the south-eastern part of Kherson region.

• Compared with the previous reporting period, between the evenings of 4 and 5 January, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region. • Between the evenings of 5 and 6 January, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. • Between the evenings of 6 and 7 January, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. • The Mission saw fresh damage from gunfire to a functional school and a store in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka. The SMM recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote disengagement area. In Kyiv, the Mission monitored a peaceful public gathering related to the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Restrictions of the Mission’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The SMM was also restricted in Staromykhailivka, near Starolaspa and near Leonove, close to the border with the Russian Federation.*

Following the beginning of a recommitment to the ceasefire on the occasion of New Year and Christmas festivities at 00:01 on 29 December, between the evenings of 28 and 29 December, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous reporting period. Between the evenings of 29 and 30 December, the Mission recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region, compared with the previous 24 hours. The Mission facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable repair works to essential civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line. Restrictions of the SMM’s access continued in all three disengagement areas. The Mission was also restricted in Michurine, Starolaspa, near Zaichenko and at two border crossing points with the Russian Federation near Izvaryne and Sievernyi.*