Latest news from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received until 18:00 hrs, 10 June (Kyiv time)
This update is provided for the media and the public
The situation in Ukraine was calm, except parts of Donbas where tensions remained. Donetsk city remained quiet. ‘The SMM has not reestablished communication with the four monitors from the Donetsk team and four monitors from the Luhansk team with whom it lost contact on 26 May and 29 May respectively.
In Kharkiv local media carried reports that a Ukrainian army convoy, transporting military equipment for the Government’s action against armed separatists in Donbas, came under attack near the city of Izyum on 9 June. The SMM met with the head of the Region Administration, police officials and hospital staff in Izyum on 10 June. The interlocutors seemed to be unaware of the incident.
In Luhansk city the SMM learnt that prior to the separatist attack on the airport on the night of 9-10 June, which was believed to be guarded by a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers, an earlier attempt on 8-9 June was made by the ‘South Eastern Army’ to seize the airport.
On 10 June the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, ordered the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for civilians willing to move from the area of conflict. According to the President, this action was necessary to avoid new victims.
On 11 June representatives of the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ informed the SMM that they wanted support in establishing a humanitarian corridor to the town of Sloviansk.
The situation in Donetsk city remained calm. Mobile telephone communication with Sloviansk interlocutors became increasingly difficult in recent days and ceased altogether in the reporting period.
In Dnepropetrovsk the SMM met with the mayor of Zaporizhzhya, the deputy governor and other officials (the head of the regional social services, the head of the regional police) in order to discuss the situation of displaced persons. So far the regional administration registered 405 displaced people from Crimea and 550 from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Among them, 20 families with 12 children already left for western Ukraine as they considered the Zaporizhzhya region unsafe. According to the regional administration, 120 children, some of them unaccompanied, arrived from Sloviansk on 8 June and were sheltered in a summer camp located in the south of the region, on the seaside.
The situation in Kherson and Odessa remained calm.
In Odessa the SMM monitored the remembrance service for the victims of 2 May at Kulikovo Polye. The SMM observed 150 people from different faiths (Christian-Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim) at the Cathedral square, displaying Ukrainian national colours and following a service led by a priest. Forty uniformed police officers were present. The group moved to four sites in the town where supporters of Ukrainian unity died on 2 May. No incidents were reported.
The situation in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Kyiv was calm.
In Lviv the SMM monitored a ‘Right Sector’ protest in front of the main department of the Ministry of Interior. The demonstration was against the appointment of two allegedly corrupt officials. Approximately 20 uniformed ‘Right Sector’ activists and representatives of ten local NGOs peacefully commenced the event and submitted a petition against the appointment of the two officials. The event was observed by approximately 15 police officers.