The U.S. Department of State has condemned threats made by Russian-backed fighters against OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Yasynuvata on Feb. 24.
“The United States has been closely monitoring the growing violence in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks and the continuing failure of the combined-Russian separatist forces to honor the ceasefire called for under the Minsk agreements,” reads a Feb. 26 statement by the State Department. “We call on Russia and the separatist forces it backs to immediately observe the cease-fire, withdraw all heavy weapons, and allow full and unfettered access to the OSCE monitors.”
According to Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission to Ukraine, the incident occurred at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 near the militant controlled city of Yasynuvata, some three kilometers north of the occupied city of Donetsk.
“An SMM patrol was attempting to launch a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), intending to inspect the alleged shelling of the Donetsk water filtration station, when armed men pointed their weapons at them, advanced towards them and seized the UAV, after which one of the men opened fire, (bullets) impacting close to the SMM patrol,” the OSCE’s mission chief’s Feb. 24 press statement says.
Apakan also said the attack had been a direct challenge to the collective will of the 57 OSCE participating states, and to the Minsk peace agreements, and also demanded that those responsible be brought to justice.
The Donetsk water filtration station stopped working amid continuing shelling on Feb. 24. Caught in the line of fire between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed forces, the station had been providing water supplies for Avdyivka, Yasynuvata and Donetsk.
Despite attacks by Russian-backed militants, the OSCE was able to carry out an inspection of the Donetsk water filter station with another drone. The plant was reported to have been shelled with 82-millimeter mortars, with at least four impact craters spotted, and a chloride storage warehouse was damaged. The surrounding area near the station may have been mined, a mission report of Feb. 25 reads.
Also on Feb. 25, OSCE SMM observers were allegedly attacked again, according to Ukraine’s military press center. The mission’s inspectors were stopped by Russian-backed fighters near the village of Katerynivka in Luhansk Oblast. The attackers opened fire with firearms and set off two grenades near OSCE vehicles.
“These cases of armed provocations committed by the illegal groups are deliberate actions aimed at further escalating the conflict, ignoring the cease-fire regime, and deliberate non-fulfillment of the Minsk agreements,” Ukraine’s military said in a statement released on Feb. 25.
