The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that a monitor killed by a land mine explosion in Donbas war zone on April 23 was a citizen of the United States. The incident happened at 11:17 a.m. some 800 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
Two field officers, one from Germany and the other from the Czech Republic, were wounded in the same blast and taken to a hospital in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk.
“An OSCE SMM patrol consisting of two armored vehicles and six patrol members was driving near non-government controlled Pryshyb in the Luhansk Region when one of the vehicles was struck by an explosion, likely a mine,” OSCE mission’s deputy chief monitor Alexander Hug told a news conference.
Video footage published on YouTube by Russian-backed militants shows the probable OSCE armored car virtually destroyed by the massive explosion and resulting fire. The identity of the victim will be released publicly after relatives are notified.
Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the 57-nation OSCE, demanded a thorough investigation, adding that those responsible would be held accountable.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine accused Russia of planting the explosive to intimidate international monitors.
“The news of the April 23 death of one and injury of several observers from the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in the territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was met with deep pain and sadness in Ukraine…We consider the serious incident, which occurred inside territory controlled and supported by Russia and illegally armed groups, a confirmation of Moscow’s and its puppets’ attempts to intimidate the OSCE and nullify the efforts of Ukraine and the SMM to stabilize the situation on the contact line. We call on Russia to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements, to take all urgent measures in order to immediately stop provocations against OSCE observers, and to ensure full security of the SMM and its unhindered access to all occupied territory, including to the temporarily uncontrolled sections of the Ukrainian-Russian border. Ukraine will do everything possible to ensure an immediate, full and impartial investigation of the crime in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was called by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Poroshenko offered condolences on the death of the U.S. citizen, according to Poroshenko’s website. The Ukrainian president also talked about the possible deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to the war zone.
While one person was killed and two wounded in one OSCE vehicle, three other monitors from a second vehicle were unharmed and safely taken to mission premises in the area, Hug said.
A senior representative of the Russian-backed militants, Eduard Basurin, claimed the OSCE patrol deviated from a main road while moving on the route from Slavyanoserbsk to Sololnyky and thus “violated the OSCE’s mandate.”
However, the organization’s mandate on monitoring the situation in the warzone has no limitations on OSCE patrol movement in the area, Hug told the Kyiv Post. “The road the patrol was traveling is one that has been previously used by the mission and also by other, local civilian traffic. Regardless of this, mines should have never been present there to begin with.”
He also said that negotiators from the trilateral contact group and other signatories of a Sept. 19, 2014 prohibited the laying of mines and other explosive devices and stipulated the removal of mines that had already been laid.
“Sadly, particularly for our mission today, but for all civilians living in the area, the commitments remain true only on paper. It is of the utmost importance that the sides take their commitments seriously and remove all mines and explosive devices from the Donbas,” Hug said.
