The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is concerned about the shelling of members of the OSCE Special Monitoring mission (SMM) to Ukraine in Donetsk region and believes that this is an attempt by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to make the mission stop its activities.
“The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expresses its deep concern about the shelling of members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine on Nov. 26 near the villages of Kirove and Shumy in Donetsk region. The available information about the incident helps conclude that shells were fired from the territory controlled by illegal armed groups operating in Donetsk region of Ukraine. We regard this as an attempt by the DPR’s terrorist groups to exert pressure on the OSCE SMM in order to make it stop its monitoring activities,” the press service quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis as saying.
The ministry stressed the unacceptability of taking any measures aimed at restricting the activity of the OSCE SMM that is carried out on the basis of a consensus decision of all 57 OSCE member states.
“We call on all parties that signed the Minsk agreements, which envisage an important role of the OSCE SMM in resolving the current situation in the east of Ukraine, to respect the mandate of the OSCE SMM and provide all possible assistance to the mission, including the possibility of free movement and monitoring activities along the Russian-Ukrainian border on the territories that are temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities,” reads the statement.
As reported, unidentified persons fired rocket-propelled grenade and multiple anti-aircraft rounds at an OSCE patrol in Donetsk region on Nov. 26.
The incident occurred at about noon, when a patrol of three monitors, escorted by Ukrainian military personnel, was travelling between two Ukrainian military checkpoints, less than two kilometers apart.
