OSCE monitors report 75 percent increase in violence in Donbas within one week

Published June 15, 2017 at 9:58 pm

Alexander Hug, the deputy head of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, arrives for his press-conference in Kiev on April 23, 2017.The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Sunday one of its US monitors in Ukraine died after a patrol vehicle hit a landmine in the Russian-backed separatist east.It marked the first loss for the security body's Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) since Europe's only war broke out more than three years ago. / AFP PHOTO / Sergei SUPINSKY

Photo by AFP

The number of instances of the violation of the ceasefire in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, including with the use of heavy weapons banned by the Minsk peace agreements, increased by 75 percent within one week, OSCE Principal Deputy Chief Monitor in Ukraine Alexander Hug has said.

“The past week, June 5-11, saw a 75 percent increase in violence in eastern Ukraine in comparison to the previous week,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on June 15.

In his words, the OSCE SMM recorded 1,200 explosions caused by mortars, tanks and artillery, including multiple launch rocket systems compared to 191 cases the week before.

Most of the violations recorded over the period under review took place in Luhansk region.

He said the OSCE SMM had confirmed 11 civilian casualties: eight men, two women and a 15-year-old boy – all injured by shelling or shooting inside residential areas, he said.

According to Hug, the OSCE SMM now includes 653 monitors, including 565 who work in eastern Ukraine.