Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 2 February 2015
This report is for the media and public
The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). In Kyiv the SMM monitored a violent protest by members of the “Aidar” battalion in front of the Ministry of Defence.
In Soledar (77km north of Donetsk, government-controlled), the SMM met the Russian Major-General, Representative of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to the JCCC and the Ukrainian Major-General, Head of the Ukrainian side to the JCCC, who were also joined by members of the “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) and “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”). The Ukrainian Major-General stated that his staff would temporarily work at the JCCC office in Soledar until further instructions.
The SMM visited Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi and Voroshilovskyi districts (respectively 1.7km north-west and 15km south-west of Donetsk city centre, “DPR”-controlled) to monitor the effects of shelling reported by various sources. The SMM visited six sites in the two districts where it observed damage to infrastructure and residential properties. Local residents reported that Petrovskyi district was shelled on 1 February at approximately 17:00hrs and that a young girl was killed and two men wounded as a result. SMM crater analysis leads it to conclude that one of the impacts in the district was caused by a mortar round originating from the south-west and another impact was the result of an Uragan rocket fired from the north-west. In Voroshilovskyi district local residents told the SMM that shelling occurred on 2 February at approximately 07:45hrs and that two adults, one woman and one man were killed. SMM crater analysis shows that one building sustained a direct artillery hit originating from the north-west. The SMM patrol was forced to leave the site due to incoming shelling some 300m to the north-west of the SMM’s location, between 11:45hrs and 12:01hrs, which the SMM concluded to be 15 rounds of mortar fire. The SMM will follow up.
The SMM had to depart from Kodema (57km north-west of Donetsk, government-controlled) due to a nearby and approaching exchange of small arms fire, approximately 1km to the south-east. Between 11:00hrs and 12:00hrs the SMM heard intense Multi Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and exchange of artillery fire at approximately 25km south-south-east of the SMM’s position.
Between 10:20hrs and 11:40hrs, while in Novhorodske (34km north of Donetsk, government-controlled) the SMM heard continuous heavy shelling from multiple directions, both incoming and outgoing, and occasional heavy machine gun fire. Later, while in Sukha Balka (33km north of Donetsk, government-controlled), the SMM estimated that this same exchange of fire was still continuing, both incoming and outgoing approximately 3-5km away, but was unable to pinpoint the point of origin or location of impact of the firing.
On 2 February, the SMM visited Buhas (41km south of Donetsk, government-controlled) to verify two Grad shellings on 31 January, which had been reported to the SMM by the personnel at the Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint at Volnovakha (35km south-west of Donetsk) and the head of Buhas village council. The SMM observed 10 damaged houses and, following six crater analyses, estimated the rockets originated from the north-north-east. While at the site, between 12:30hrs and 13:00hrs, the SMM heard intermittent shelling taking place approximately 25km south-east of the SMM’s position, but could not ascertain whether it was incoming or outgoing fire.
While on patrol, the SMM was stopped at a Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint before Starchenkove (100km south-west of Donetsk) where it was requested to provide the nationality of its patrol members and was allowed to continue some 45 minutes later. During the flight conducted on 1 February in an area east of Mariupol, the UAV observed numerous armored military equipment including battle tanks, personnel carriers and multiple support vehicles. The observations were made on both sides of the line of contact. Furthermore, after landing, the team noticed a hole in the aircraft’s rotor blade, possibly caused by small arms fire. The incident is being investigated by the operating company.
The head of the JCCC Luhansk office and the head of the demining group of the “LPR” “emergency service” informed the SMM of two alleged rocket strikes on the city the previous evening at approximately 21:00hrs and 23:00hrs, which included a total of five rockets. On one of the sites reportedly impacted, located on road M04 approximately 6km east of Luhansk city centre (“LPR”-controlled), the SMM observed two impacts on the edge of the road consistent with a rocket strike. The SMM was informed that the rocket remnants had been removed and consequently was not able to conduct any direction analysis. On the second impact site the SMM observed the remains of a rocket, probably unexploded, in the backyard of a residential house located on Serhei Tiulenin Street (7km north-west of Luhansk city centre, “LPR”-controlled). The SMM assessed the rocket as 300mm calibre, fired from a “Smerch” MLRS situated north-north-west from the point of impact. No damage or casualties were observed.
Between 12:00hrs and 12:15hrs at 2km south-east of Borivske (97km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), the SMM heard incoming and outgoing heavy artillery shelling to the south-east. Incoming shelling was impacting approximately 10km south-east from the SMM position.
At approximately 10:00hrs, on the western outskirts of Hrechyshkyne (74km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), the SMM heard outgoing MLRS and artillery fire which the SMM estimated to have originated from 1-3km to the west and to have impacted 5-6km from its position. In Kapitanove (72km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) the SMM heard, at around 11:30hrs, an exchange of artillery fire and MLRS shelling, with outgoing fire originating from approximately 5km south and south-west, while incoming fire originated from an unknown location and distance to the south and south-west.
At 10:40hrs in Bakhmutivka (47km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) the SMM heard continuous outgoing MLRS and heavy artillery fire which it estimated to have originated from approximately 20km to the south-east, but could not ascertain the direction. When the SMM left the village at 11:45hrs the outgoing shelling was still on-going.
Between 10:15hrs and 10:45hrs in Bila Hora (78km west of Luhansk, government-controlled) the SMM heard continuous heavy outgoing shelling which it estimated to be 152mm and Grad rockets originating from 8km to the south-west and impacting in the vicinity of Toshkivka (70km west of Luhansk, government-controlled).
At the administrative appeal court in Kharkiv, the SMM monitored the hearing of a case related to the lustration of a prosecutor. The case had been the subject of consecutive appeals. The lawyer of the defendant announced that his client agreed to give-up the case. The announcement was applauded by some 70 activists in the audience, men and women aged 30-60, who had been protesting in front of the building before the hearing, demanding the effective implementation of the lustration law.
The SMM monitored another protest by the 24th battalion of territorial defence (“Aidar” battalion) in front of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Kyiv (see SMM Daily Report 31 January). By 13:00hrs approximately 320 participants, almost exclusively men from the “Aidar” battalion blocked traffic in front of the MoD. At approximately 14:00hrs some protestors set on fire tires they had piled up in front of the MoD, which was followed by an escalation of violence with bottles, stones and smoke devices being thrown onto personnel defending the access to the MoD. At 14:45hrs a member of Parliament (National Front) initiated a dialogue with the protestors and the situation was tense but stabilized at 15:00hrs, the time when the SMM departed. The SMM observed the presence of 16 buses of riot police, around 300 National Guards in the surrounding streets, as well as 60 military personnel inside the MoD compound.
The situation in Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Lviv was calm.