The Ukrainian party in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the settlement of the situation in Donbas views Tuesday’s attack on the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s (SMM) patrol as an attempt to intimidate the mission’s employees, Darka Olifer, spokesperson for Ukraine’s envoy to the TCG Leonid Kuchma, said.
“The Ukrainian side is indignant over another instance of aggression towards the OSCE SMM patrol that had taken place in Yasynuvata, which is not controlled by Ukraine, on June 20, 2017. We strongly condemn this attempt to intimidate the mission’s employees and demand to find and punish the perpetrators,” Olifer said on Facebook following a TCG meeting in Minsk on Wednesday.
Instances of violence and threats against the OSCE SMM employees are increasing in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, she said. “Serious incidents concerning the OSCE SMM’s security occur once in every three days since April 23, 2017, when an OSCE SMM representative had died a tragic death in certain areas of the Luhansk region,” Olifer said.
The OSCE SMM said in a report on June 20 the OSCE SMM’s patrol comprising six employees on two armored vehicles had been attacked by two man in military-style attire, one of which was armed with an assault riffle, while staying at an observation point at a railway station in Yasunyvata.
