Ukraine has delivered ten 'Cougar' armored personnel carriers (APC) to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to fulfill its mission in the east of the country.
The vehicle delivery ceremony was held at the Defense Ministry’s premises with the participation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Interfax-Ukraine said.
‘”We are present at a very important ceremony of presentation of ten armored vehicles to the OSCE observers that carries out an extremely crucial and very dangerous mission on ensuring ceasefire in anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone,” the head of state said.
He noted that the mission has a longing for such vehicles since it performs as an intermediary in settlement of this conflict.
“I would like to stress that none of these vehicles was delivered to the OSCE mission at the cost of the Armed Forces. These cars were ordered by border guards and the National Guard beforehand. They were meant to be used outside the military operation zone,” he said.
According to the president, each vehicle has enough space for nine representatives of the mission. All the vehicles are handled without drivers and will be used temporarily.
“I don’t have any doubt that the presence of these vehicles will greatly contribute to ensuring security and truce. I hope they will work on the area of Ukrainian border out of controlled of the Ukrainian soldiers, and I’m sure that OSCE mission’s unbiased approach might prevent further escalation and illegal crossings of the border,” the president said.
