Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), as of 18:00hrs, 13 February
This report is for media and the general 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). The SMM assessed damage from shelling in Donetsk and Luhansk cities.
On 13 February, the SMM visited the residential area of Leninskyi district in Donetsk city (4km south of Donetsk city centre, “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”-controlled) to assess shelling which it heard and which was confirmed by the “emergency services department” of the “DPR”. Residents told the SMM that shelling had occurred on 12 February between 04:20 and 04:45hrs. On Karelskaya Street, the SMM observed a fresh impact but it was not suitable for analysis and no further details could be established. The SMM observed damage caused by shrapnel which left shattered windows, shell fragments, as well as a hole at the entrance gate of a dwelling. Following up on information received from the “emergency services department” of the “DPR”, the SMM also visited Kyivskyi district (5km north-west of Donetsk city centre), where it observed a crater as well as damage to a nearby residential building and to two power poles in Batyshcheva Street. A local resident stated that the crater resulted from a shelling on 11 February at approximately 14:30hrs. The SMM estimates that the impact was caused by a mortar shell of undetermined calibre, fired from the northeast. No casualties were reported on either site.
At the JCCC headquarters, temporarily relocated to Soledar (77km north of Donetsk, government-controlled) officers from the Ukrainian and Russian Federation Armed Forces were present with members of the “DPR” and “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”). Discussions were underway within the JCCC on its potential role in the implementation of the ceasefire, scheduled to come into force on 15 February.
During the weekly security meeting in Slovyansk (95km north of Donetsk, government- controlled), the police reported that graffiti with separatist slogans had appeared in the city and suggested that this might be linked to the recent influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) - approximately 800 individuals in the last two weeks, mostly from Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk). A representative of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that there were currently 10,000 applications for permits to travel across the line of contact and that at present, the system was unable to adequately deal with this level of demand.
Between 11:00 and 11:10hrs, at approximately one kilometre west of Chermalyk (72km south of Donetsk, government-controlled) the SMM heard several outgoing artillery shells and observed an outgoing mortar shell being fired east of its position on the western outskirts of the village. While at the Chermalyk municipal building, the SMM heard at 11:40hrs approximately seven outgoing shells fired to the south, but could not determine the distance.
While in Mykolaivka (67 km south of Donetsk, government-controlled) between 10:30 and 11:25hrs, the SMM heard 24 artillery rounds which it assessed to be outgoing from west to east of its position. Between 10:00 and 10:30hrs, while at checkpoint 12 (85km south of Donetsk, government-controlled), the SMM heard intermittent but regular incoming and outgoing shelling at a location approximately one kilometre to the north-northeast of its position.
From its base in Kramatorsk (97km north of Donetsk, government-controlled), at 09:00hrs and 17:00hrs, the SMM heard respectively two and one outgoing surface to air missiles (SAM) fired from the south-east of its location near Kramatorsk airport. In all instances it observed the smoke trails but could not determine if a target was hit.
On 13 February, at around 01:26hrs, in the vicinity of Chernenko (11km north-east of Mariupol, government-controlled), an Unarmed/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of the SMM temporarily lost its primary link signal due to a possible jamming, according to the SMM’s estimate. At around 14:38hrs, the same UAV was shot at, south of Lomakyne (5km north-east of Mariupol, government-controlled) but was not damaged.
At a Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint near Mykolaivka (67km south of Donetsk, government-controlled) the commander requested the passports and ID cards of the SMM personnel and accused the SMM of carrying drugs and weapons in OSCE vehicles to support the “DPR”, and of monitoring only in government-controlled areas. A soldier searched one of the SMM vehicles following which the SMM was allowed to proceed.
East of Makiivka (15km east of Donetsk, “DPR”-controlled), the SMM observed a convoy of 32 heavy military-style unmarked trucks heading west, as well as one MBT west of Khartsysk (22km east of Donetsk, “DPR”-controlled) heading east. The SMM also observed approximately 5 military and 15 civilian trucks waiting outside a humanitarian aid distribution center in Makiivka.
The SMM observed a BTR and two MTLB armoured personnel carriers (APCs) in the southern outskirts of Kapitanove (72km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled). The SMM observed a convoy of four 122mm ammunition trucks waiting at the Novookhtyrka (70km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) checkpoint on the road to Sievierodonetsk.
On 12 and 13 February, the SMM Unarmed/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) observed along the 19 September line of contact various weapon systems, defensive positions and support vehicles as well as multiple APCs and battle tanks, some of which appearing to be changing positions.
The SMM visited areas of Luhansk city (“LPR”-controlled) to assess the damages of a shelling which it heard the previous evening at 21:15hrs. At a house in Volkhova Kvartal (6.7km east of Luhansk city centre) the SMM observed broken windows and balconies caused by what it assessed to be the explosion of an Uragan rocket from a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). The JCCC office in Luhansk and the “emergency services department” of the “LPR” confirmed the shelling and said that a woman had died as a result. At another house in the same street, the SMM also observed broken windows and the remains of an Uragan type MLRS rocket stuck in the ground, which it assessed to have been fired from north north east. On Richchya Peremohy Street, the SMM observed a severely damaged bakery, which sustained a direct MLRS Grad rocket hit on its roof, as well the body of another Grad rocket in the ground, which it estimated to have been fired from the north-east. In Vostochnyi Kvartal a five storey residential building sustained a direct hit, which destroyed two apartments on the top floor. Based on fragments and the impact crater on the site, the SMM estimates that the building was hit by a Grad, fired from north north east. The JCCC, the “emergency services department” of the “LPR” and the local hospital told the SMM that a woman was wounded as a result. On Dzerzhinskaya Street, the SMM observed that a kindergarten had suffered a direct hit to the roof by what the SMM estimates to have been a Grad rocket. The SMM observed that the impact had destroyed part of the roof, at least one room of the facility and shattered windows. On Klubnaya Street, the SMM observed remnants of a Grad rocket on the tarmac, which the SMM assessed had caused damages to the walls and roofs of nearby houses and shattered windows.
The Luhansk city morgue confirmed to the SMM that three civilians, two men and a woman, had died as a result of the previous night’s shelling in the Vostok neighbourhood. At the emergency ambulance station, the SMM was told there were five women injured during the same shelling. Injuries ranged from head and chest wounds caused by artillery shrapnel, to a hip fracture and contusions.
In Oleksiivka (60km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), from 12:20 to 12:30hrs, the SMM heard continuous artillery shelling from five to ten kilometres to the south, but was unable to determine if it was incoming or outgoing.
At 10:50hrs, while in the vicinity of Raihorodka (38km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), the SMM heard incoming artillery and MLRS Grad fire, approximately eight kilometres south-east of its position, and continuous outgoing artillery, approximately 15km north-west of its position. At 11:05hrs, the SMM heard three undetermined outgoing artillery fire approximately one kilometre south-west of its position.
The SMM visited the Krasnopartizansk border crossing point (86km east of Luhansk, “LPR”-controlled) and observed 25 private vehicles waiting to cross. The commander at the border crossing point stated that the last time the border guards were paid was December 2014. The number of individuals crossing into the Russian Federation had increased over recent weeks, he said. According to people crossing the border the SMM spoke to, it took on average two to four hours to cross the border by private vehicle.
On the road between Sievierodonetsk and Novoaidar (58km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), the SMM observed a parked military truck with a 100mm artillery gun. While in Novoaidar, the SMM observed movement of a Ukrainian Armed Forces military convoy consisting of two T64 tanks, four BMP APCs, six trucks including one towing an anti-aircraft gun. At one kilometre from the Novaidar city checkpoint the SMM observed an Ukrainian armed forces T64 tank on the south side of the Sievierodonetsk –Novoaidar road and would later observe on the same road, at the junction to Hrechyshkyne, two 152mm 2A65 MSTA-B howitzers, towed by Ukrainian armed forces trucks in the direction of Hrechyshkyne as well as armoured vehicles blocking the road to Hrechyshkyne.
The SMM observed a BTR and two MTLB APCs in the southern outskirts of Kapitanove (72km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled). The SMM observed a convoy of four 122mm ammunition trucks waiting at the Novookhtyrka (70km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) checkpoint on the road to Sievierodonetsk.
On 12 February, the OSCE Secretary General and the Chief Monitor of the SMM met with representatives of the Dnepropetrovsk regional state administration, the regional council and the city administration and discussed the peace process, issues related to IDPs, the economic situation and the process of reform and decentralisation.
The SMM met the military commissioner of Khotyn district (58km north-east of Chernivtsi) who said that they had encountered difficulties during the mobilization process including misinformation amongst the population. The head of the Khotyn district council said that a co-ordination centre was established in support of mobilization, aimed at enhancing co-operation between the military and local government.
The SMM continued monitoring the situation in Kharkiv, Kherson, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odessa, Lviv and Kyiv.