The conflict in Donbas is not frozen, and it can be ended, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine Alexander Hug has said.
“I leave with a sense of unease and regret. But I also leave with a sense of hope. I have not lost sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. This conflict is not endemic, it is not protracted, it is not frozen. It can be ended by the decision to do so,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Oct. 31.
He noted that this was his last briefing as principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE SMM, since his ten-year term of office in the OSCE had expired.
Hug added that he had worked for the OSCE SMM to Ukraine for about four years.
“Believe me, it gives me no pleasure to say this: little has changed over that time,” the he said.
He recalled that a ceasefire agreement was reached four years ago. Hug stressed that the events of the past week show that the agreements are not respected, weapons have not been withdrawn, forces and means have not been disengaged and demining has not been carried out.
“I leave this post with mixed feelings. Despite everything we have done, despite the deployment of over 700 civilian monitoring officers, hundreds of armored vehicles to protect them, and technology to assist them, despite a 24/7 commitment and engagement […] the violence continues. People are still dying. The will required to end this conflict is patently not evident,” he said.
At the same time, when asked whether he believes that Russia is not directly involved in the conflict in Donbas, Hug explained that OSCE observers saw organized convoys of vehicles crossing the uncontrolled sections of the Ukrainian-Russian border.
“We have been speaking to individuals who claimed that they were part of Russian military units fighting in Ukraine on rotation. We have seen tracks of heavy vehicles leading up to the unsecure border with the Russian Federation. All of these facts have been reported and are available,” he said.
