After a vehicle of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was damaged by small-arms fire in the government-controlled area of Ukraine’s Donbas on Jan.16, the mission’s head demanded for respect to the mission’s security.
In his statement, issued on Jan.17, Ertugrul Apakan condemned the incident, calling it unacceptable, as “these monitors are unarmed, that they have come to Ukraine with the aim of the normalization and stabilization of the security situation, and that essentially they are peacemakers.”
According to the OSCE’s latest report, an SMM patrol comprised of three monitors, one paramedic and one language assistant in two armored vehicles on Jan.16 arrived at a field near Marinka, a town in the government-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, 23 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, 1.5 kilometer from the contact line.
The mission was supposed to conduct a general assessment of the damages to a gas pipeline.
While monitoring at the site, the SMM heard the sound of one or two shots. In the same moment, the SMM saw a hole in the trunk window of one of the mission’s vehicles. At the moment of the shootings, one monitor and one language assistant were inside the damaged vehicle, with another monitor standing near the car.
Report says the SMM left the area immediately. The damaged trunk window, which was not bulletproof, was “totally shattered.”
In his statement, Apakan reminded of another incident that took place on Jan.8 in Horlivka, town in the separatists-controlled part of Donets oblast, 39 kilometers north-east of Donetsk, where SMM members were removed from their vehicles and forced to the ground at gunpoint.
Apakan noted that as every day monitors are tasked to verify the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the security zone, ensuring and guaranteeing their security and safety is not only a matter of their well-being, but also a prerequisite for peace in the interest of all segments of people in the country.
“If monitors are unable to perform their duties, there can be no security and there can be no stabilization. The process for achieving normalization demands that SMM monitors’ security be respected, that they be guaranteed safe access and freedom-of-movement throughout the country, and that all sides respect the mandate under which they operate,” he said in his statement.
Ukraine’s
Foreign Ministry also condemned the latest incident, calling it an attempt to
intimidate the OSCE mission and the latest proof of conscious Russia’s violations
of its commitments under the Minsk agreements.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has already killed more than 9,000 people and left another 1.5 million displaced.
