Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) to Ukraine report the lack of security guarantees in an area near the village of Petrivske in Donbas, where the opposing sides’ forces and hardware had earlier been disengaged.
“Today again only limited access for OSCE SMM to Petrivske/Bohdanivka disengagement area – UAF [Ukrainian armed forces], ‘DPR’ [the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic] have failed to guarantee SMM’s security (possible mines),” the SMM said on Facebook on Oct. 12.
“SMM is ready/able to monitor, but needs access,” it said.
“UAF JCCC [Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center] representative is present on the ground in Bohdanivka however cannot guarantee security for the SMM. RF AF [the Russian Federation’s armed forces] JCCC rep is not present in Petrivske. JCCC should assist in ensuring safe & unhindered access for SMM, co-ordinate demining,” the report says.
The members of the Trilateral Contact Group for settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine on Sept. 21 signed an agreement on the separation of the forces in some populated areas along the line of contact in Donbas. The document envisions the establishment of three pilot security zones in the village of Petrivske on the line of contact with the DPR and in the villages of Zolote and Stanytsia Luhanska on the line of contact with the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).
The parties originally agreed to start the disengagement of the forces and hardware in these pilot zones on Oct. 1, but in reality forces were separated only in Zolote at the time. Following several attempts, forces were later separated also in Petrivske, while the separation of forces in Stanytsia Luhanska has been repeatedly disrupted.
