The Ukrainian Armed Forces units opened fire near Schastia, Luhansk region, where the Organization for Security and Co-ordination in Europe (OSCE) had its mission members at the time, using weapons not prohibited by the Minsk agreements, in response to militant shelling of Ukrainian positions, says Roman Yurchylo, a spokesman for the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC).
“The event was observed by the OSCE mission representatives on both sides, who were near Schastia at the time, waiting for OSCE humanitarian envoy Frisch (the Trilateral Contact Group’s humanitarian subgroup coordinator Tony Frisch). The Ukrainian side of the JCCC sees this incident as a clear provocation aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” according to a statement posted on the anti-terrorist operation press center’s official Facebook page.
The attack was launched by militants from the village of Obozne, Slovianoserbsk district, at 11.55 p.m.; the militants used tanks, tripod-mounted anti-tank guns, small arms and several mechanized-infantry units, Yurchylo said.
“At 2.20 p.m., the shelling ceased, thanks to the extraordinary efforts by senior Ukrainian JCCC officials. Human casualties were avoided among both anti-terrorist forces and civilians,” he said.
Militants said earlier that an OSCE delegation led by Frisch had come under a mortar attack launched by the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Schastia, while returning to Ukraine, and when the Ukrainian Armed Forces stopped shelling, Frisch decided to return to Luhansk, where he had arrived a day earlier to assess the humanitarian situation.
