Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine Alexander Hug has said that the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone should be demined as soon as possible.
The security group in the trilateral contact group has identified twelve priority areas that need to be swept for mines, he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday referring to the incident with the minibus, which hit a mine near the Maryinka checkpoint.
However, the designated area is too small, it only allows repair crews getting access for repairing some of the infrastructure facilities, he said adding that currently a very large area needs to be swept for mines.
Hug said that the minibus hit the mine because the driver did not want to stand in a long queue and went to the roadside to bypass the queue, despite the signs warning about landmines.
They died because they hit a mine and this week more and more people are crossing the demarcation line, because they fear that the checkpoints may be closed, the deputy head of the mission said.
Hug said that for the whole week monitors witness hundreds of people queuing at different checkpoints on the contact line.
He also recalled that the checkpoint in Mayorsk remains closed due to heavy fighting near Horlivka, in particular in village of Zaitseve.
As reported, at around 08.00 on February 10 a Volkswagen Transporter hit an explosive device 600-700 meters from the Maryinka checkpoint.
The minibus was coming from the ‘gray zone’ and was trying to overtake the queue of cars. There were five people in the minibus. T Three of them died on the spot, one sustained severe injuries and died in hospital in Kurakhivka.
A criminal inquiry has been launched into the incident on the charge of “premeditated murder.”
