The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine has deployed its monitors in the village of Stanytsia Luhanska on an ongoing basis.
The permanent presence of the Mission on the base will enable us to expand the monitoring capabilities in this extremely important place on the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska where an extremely unstable situation remains and, unfortunately, the only checkpoint in the entire Luhansk region in this area is the entry-exit checkpoint, the mission said on Facebook on August 19 evening.
The OSCE SMM said that observers at the front line use a wide range of technologies to monitor this area, in particular, a thermal imaging camera for night monitoring.
However, only observers can communicate with civilians and be ‘the eyes and ears’ of the international community. They will be closer to people in the area now and will be able to provide more details about the needs and fears of the civilian population, OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said.
The deployment of the OSCE SMM observers on a permanent 24-hour basis is a step towards a normalization of the situation in Stanytsia Luhanska. The time has come, but in fact it was necessary long ago for the sides to take their steps. They need to stop the fire, conduct demining and disengage equipment and personnel.
Despite the agreements reached in the disengagement of military equipment and personnel in Stanytsia Luhanska area, the parties have not fulfilled them yet. In fact, the only movement of forces and equipment that we observed in this area was moving forward. In addition, this area is struck by mines and unexploded ordnance, the mission said.
The SMM has ten advanced patrol bases: in Volnovakha, Pokrovske, Svetlodarske, Novoaidar, Stanytsia Luhanska, Schastia, Popasna, Kadiyivka, Horlivka and Debaltseve.
We also plan to open more bases of such kind, especially in areas that are not controlled by the government near an uncontrolled section of the border with the Russian Federation, but before we open these bases, we need security guarantees from individuals exercising actual control in these areas, the mission said.
