The OSCE Monitoring Mission in Ukraine identified the American citizen killed when his work vehicle struck a bomb planted on the road as Joseph Stone, a Global Rescue paramedic.
Stone was a contract worker for the OSCE mission in Ukraine, the organization’s deputy chief monitor Alexander Hug told during a news conference in Kyiv on April 24.
The fatal incident happened on April 23 near the village of Pryshyb, 800 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, in the Russian-controlled part of Luhansk Oblast, when one of the OSCE armored cars patrolling the area struck a landmine plant on the road. Besides killing Stone, two others in the vehicle with him were injured.
Stone’s body was sent to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk overnight into April 24, Hug said. “Our team, the U.S. Embassy and Global Rescue, the company with whom we have a contract for medical services, are doing all we can to ensure that his body is returned home with dignity and respect he deserves,” Hug said.
The two wounded OSCE monitors, a German female and a Czech male, were released from a hospital in Russian-occupied Luhansk in stable condition and brought to Krasnoarmiysk on their way to Kyiv.
The OSCE recovered both of its Toyota Land Cruisers involved – the one demolished with a land mine explosion and the unharmed car as well.
Over the past months, the OSCE has been reporting on increasing numbers of violent intimidation of its monitors in territory controlled by Russian-backed militants. Since Jan. 15, 2015, the missing has faced as many as 183 incidents of hostile behavior towards its members, including verbal and armed threats, with the attackers opening fire in close proximity to monitors, and destroying their drones and other equipment. And these figures cover only the most serious incidents, Hug said.
Hug called for justice in solving Stone’s murder, noting that under the Minsk peace agreements, explosives should have been removed as far back as 2014.
All patrols were removed after the murder, but patrols will partially resume on April 25.
