News and press releases

On 26 April, the SMM observed what it assessed to be the most intense shelling in Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) since fighting began in the area in mid-February 2015. For the last 12 hours, and on-going at the time of this report, the SMM has observed sporadic to continuous exchanges of fire involving small arms, machine gun, rocket propelled grenade and automatic grenade launcher.

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by third parties and security considerations*. The SMM discussed a demilitarization plan for Shyrokyne. The SMM held a round table involving pro and anti-Maidan activists in Odessa.

Some 40 representatives from the Ukraine’s Vinnytsia Region and district administrations discussed the international standards on freedom of religion and belief, and responses to hate crime at a seminar organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with the support of the Vinnytsia Regional State Administration on 23 and 24 April 2015.

At 9.35hrs on 12 April, upon arrival at Donetsk railway station (“Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled, 8km north-west of Donetsk city centre), the SMM witnessed heavy fighting between “DPR” and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in areas near the city visible from its position.

KYIV, 12 April 2015 — The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, expressed his dismay that violence resumed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Shyrokyne yesterday, and today in and around Donetsk airport, and called upon all sides to exercise restraint.

Following an SMM-facilitated, three-day period of relative calm, at 18.35hrs on 11 April, the SMM – positioned on the eastern outskirts of government-controlled Berdianske (2km west of “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled Shyrokyne) – heard a tank round being fired. It assessed it to have been fired from government-controlled territory approximately 500 metres from its position, and to have impacted in or around Shyrokyne.

The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by third parties and by security considerations*. The situation around Donetsk airport and Shyrokyne remained tense. The SMM observed several demonstrations in Luhansk city, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Ivano-Frankivsk.