Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30, 29 June 2016
This report is for media and the general public.
The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions compared to the previous reporting period, including an escalation of armed violence in the wider area of Debaltseve. The SMM noted the use of rocket launchers in the areas of Avdiivka and multiple-launch rockets systems in Shyrokyne. It monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable recovery of the bodies of two “DPR” members in Pisky. It continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons. The SMM monitored the situation of civilians at the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge. It facilitated and monitored repairs to essential infrastructure in Horlivka, near Gagarin mine, Trokhizbenka, Shchastia and in Obozne. The SMM did not encounter any specific restrictions to its freedom of movement.*
The SMM observed more ceasefire violations[1] in Donetsk region compared to the previous reporting period.
The SMM camera in government-controlled Avdiivka (17km north of Donetsk), during the night hours of 28 June, recorded within one hour nine explosions (assessed as impacts) and two outgoing rockets, all 3km south-south-east of its position. Whilst in “DPR”-controlled Yasynuvata (16km north-east of Donetsk), on the afternoon of 29 June, the SMM heard 38 undetermined explosions at a range of 1 to 8km north, north-north-east and north-east of its position.
Whilst at the “DPR”-controlled Donetsk central railway station (6km north-west of Donetsk city centre), the SMM heard 45 undetermined explosions at a range of 2 to 8km north-east and north of its position.
The SMM recorded high levels of armed violence in the wider area of “DPR”-controlled Debaltseve (58km north-east of Donetsk). In the pre-dawn hours, the SMM heard 73 undetermined explosions 5-7km north-west and north-north-west of its position in Debaltseve. In the afternoon, the SMM heard some 70 explosions (assessed as comprising both outgoing and impacts of artillery rounds) within an hour. Whilst in government-controlled Svitlodarsk (57km north-east of Donetsk) the SMM, during the night of 28 June, heard some 225 explosions (54 assessed as caused by 122mm artillery rounds, 15 as caused by 120mm mortar rounds and ten assessed as caused by 82mm mortar rounds, the remainder undetermined) 5km south-east of its position, as well as over 100 bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire. In “DPR”-controlled Horlivka (39km north-east of Donetsk), during the day, the SMM recorded six undetermined explosions 10-12km north-east of its position and two undetermined explosions 10-12km to the south-west. The SMM liaised intensively with the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination throughout the day to facilitate de-escalation in the Debaltseve area. Towards the end of the reporting period, the violence decreased.
During the night hours of 28 June the SMM camera in Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) recorded 21 outgoing multiple-launch rocket system rockets 2km north-east of its position fired to the north-north-east and nine explosions assessed as impacts 2km north-east of its location, as well as 105 impacts of indirect fire and 21 direct bursts (including tracer rounds) fired from west to east at an unknown distance to the north and north-east of its location.
In Luhansk region, the SMM heard some 200 explosions assessed as approximately 100 artillery impacts and 100 outgoing mortar rounds 10-15km south of its position south of government-controlled Troitske (69km west of Luhansk); the explosions occurred at a distance and direction consistent with the Svitlodarsk/Debaltseve area. Positioned south-east of Kalynove (“LPR”-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk) the SMM heard one undetermined explosion assessed as caused by an122mm artillery round. Whilst in Krasnyi Lyman (“LPR”-controlled, 30km north-west of Luhansk), the SMM heard seven undetermined explosions 10km east of its position within 30 minutes.
The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons, in implementation of the Package of Measures and its Addendum, as well as the Minsk Memorandum.
In violation of the respective withdrawal lines the SMM observed: in “DPR”-controlled areas: three towed howitzers (D-30, 122mm) being towed by military-type trucks in a north-easterly direction on the eastern outskirts of “DPR”-controlled Donetsk city; in “LPR”-controlled areas: a convoy consisting of three self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) and nine tanks (T-64) travelling north near Chornukhyne (64km south-west of Luhansk).
Beyond the withdrawal lines but outside dedicated areas, the SMM saw one tank (T-72) being transported on a flatbed truck (heading east) west of “LPR”-controlled Bile (22km west of Luhansk).
The SMM also observed heavy weapons in areas known to the SMM, which it could not verify as withdrawn as they do not comply with the criteria set in the 16 October 2015 notification. In government-controlled areas beyond the respective withdrawal lines, the SMM observed: six self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm), 15 towed howitzers (2A65 Msta-B, 152mm) and one surface-to-air missile system (SA-8 Osa, 120mm). It also noted that the following weapons were absent from those areas: six self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm), six towed howitzers (2A65 Msta-B, 152mm) and two surface-to-air missile systems (two SA-8 Osa, 120mm; and one SA-13 Strela-10, 120mm).
The SMM revisited permanent storage sites, whose locations corresponded with the withdrawal lines. In government-controlled areas, the SMM noted as missing 40 tanks (T-64) and nine mortars (2B9 Vasilek, 82mm) (39 of the tanks and all of the mortars were noted as missing during previous visits).
The SMM observed the presence of armoured combat vehicles in the security zone. In government controlled areas the SMM saw: five infantry fighting vehicles (IFV; one BMP-1 and four BMP-2) in the area of Nyzhnie (56km north-west of Luhansk; two IFVs (BMP-2) at the entrance of Krymske (42km north-west of Luhansk) and three IFVs (BMP) east of Novotoshkivske (53km west of Luhansk). In “DPR”-controlled areas, the SMM saw two IFVs (BMP-1) in Debaltseve and two armoured personnel carriers (BTR-80) in Yasynuvata.
The SMM facilitated the recovery of human remains. The SMM facilitated and monitored the recovery of the remains of two “DPR” members by a Ukrainian Armed Forces team in an area south-east of government-controlled Pisky (11km north-west of Donetsk). The SMM was accompanied by Ukrainian Armed Forces JCCC representatives. The SMM observed the recovery of the remains.
The SMM continued to observe long queues at the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge (16km north-east of Luhansk) the SMM observed a queue of between 700 and 800 people at the “LPR” checkpoint south of the Siverskyi Donets river waiting to travel towards government-controlled areas. The SMM saw a man (over 60 years old) become unwell. Ukrainian Armed Forces paramedics assisted him and led him to an ambulance. The SMM observed a further 400 people waiting to cross into government-controlled areas at the first government checkpoint north of the bridge. There was no queue in the opposite direction. At the second government checkpoint north of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge, the SMM saw at least 275 people waiting to cross into government-controlled areas. In the “LPR”-controlled area of the bridge the SMM saw an excavator, two trucks, and a crane at the car park. The excavator was digging out a ten-square-metres area. The workers at the site told the SMM that a large tent was going to be erected there. The SMM saw the poles for a tent on the back of a truck. On 28 June, the SMM saw Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel putting up two new mine hazard signs near the new Ukrainian Armed Forces position (250m north of the broken part of the bridge, see SMM Daily Report 21 June 2016), one on each side of the road, around five meters north of the position and two meters from the road. The signs were made of wood and painted with a white skull and crossbones and the word “MINE” (in Ukrainian) written in black on a red background.
The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor adherence to the ceasefire to enable repairs to essential infrastructure. In Horlivka, the SMM facilitated and monitored repair works to a water pipeline. In the afternoon, the SMM heard three undetermined explosions at an unknown distance south-west of its position. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to the water pipelines at the Gagarin mine (“DPR”-controlled, 34km north-east of Donetsk) along the contact line. In government-controlled Trokhizbenka (32km north-west of Luhansk), the SMM facilitated and monitored repairs to the power line providing electricity to a water pumping station and to a gas pipeline supplying the area of Pryshyb. In the area of “LPR”-controlled Obozne (18km north of Luhansk) the SMM facilitated and monitored repairs to high-voltage electricity lines. The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to the ceasefire to enable workers to conduct maintenance on a water pump within the power plant in government-controlled Shchastia (20km north of Luhansk).
*Restrictions to SMM’s freedom of movement or other impediments to the fulfilment of its mandate
The SMM’s monitoring is restrained by security hazards and threats, including risks posed by mines and unexploded ordnance, and by restrictions of its freedom of movement and other impediments – which vary from day to day. The SMM’s mandate provides for safe and secure access throughout Ukraine. All signatories of the Package of Measures have agreed on the need for this safe and secure access, that restriction of the SMM’s freedom of movement constitutes a violation, and on the need for rapid response to these violations.
Besides the abovementioned general restrictions, the SMM was not subject to any specific restriction to its freedom of movement.
[1] Please see the annexed table for a complete breakdown of the ceasefire violations as well as map of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions marked with locations featured in this report.