Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30, 20 September 2016

This report is for media and the general public.

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations both in Donetsk (including 38 explosions recorded) and Luhansk (one explosion recorded) regions compared with the previous reporting period (including 35 and no explosions recorded, respectively). The Mission continued to facilitate and monitor repair works on essential infrastructure in Luhansk region. The SMM continued to monitor the situation at schools along the contact line. The Mission monitored one border area currently not under government control. The SMM was denied access two times, both in areas outside government control.

The SMM recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations[1] in Donetsk region (including 38 explosions) compared with 19 September (including 35 explosions). Most ceasefire violations were recorded during night time, including 20 explosions caused by artillery rounds.

During the night hours of 19-20 September, the SMM camera in government-controlled Avdiivka (17km north of Donetsk) recorded 11 explosions assessed as impacts of rounds from undetermined weapons, 5-6km east-south-east of its location. The following day, positioned in “DPR”-controlled Yasynuvata (16km north-east of Donetsk) between 10:07 and 15:32, the SMM heard one undetermined explosion 3-5km west-south-west of its position. Positioned in Avdiivka, the SMM heard six undetermined explosions 2-8km south-east of its position.

During the night of 19-20 September, whilst in government-controlled Svitlodarsk (57km north-east of Donetsk) the SMM heard, within 45 minutes, ten explosions assessed as caused by outgoing artillery (122mm) rounds 7-8km south-south-west of its location. In the same period, the SMM also heard ten explosions – each within seven-eight seconds from those outgoing rounds – 8-9km south-south-east of its location, and assessed them as having been caused by their impacts.

In ten minutes during the night, whilst in “DPR”-controlled Horlivka (39km north-east of Donetsk) the SMM heard two undetermined explosions 9-10km north-west, and two shots of small-arms fire 2-3km north-west of its location.

In Luhansk region the SMM recorded a similar level of ceasefire violations (including one explosion) on 20 September compared with 19 September (no explosions). All the ceasefire violations in Luhansk region were recorded by the SMM within 17 minutes in the morning in an area of Stanytsia Luhanska (government-controlled, 16km north-east of Luhansk). Positioned in Stanytsia Luhanska, at 10:10 the SMM heard one shot of small-arms fire 2.6km south of its position. Positioned at the government-controlled side of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge the SMM also heard, between 10:12 and 10:27, one undetermined explosion 3km south-east and multiple short bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire at an undetermined distance south-west of its position.

The Russian Federation representative to the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) provided the SMM with information about measures taken by the JCCC in response to 17 violations committed by “DPR” and “LPR” members between 6 and 18 September, in which they had interfered with the SMM’s monitoring and verification. No information was provided in relation to steps taken by the respective leaderships themselves.

The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons, in accordance with the Package of Measures and its Addendum, as well as the Minsk Memorandum.

In violation of the respective withdrawal line, the SMM observed four multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS; BM27 Uragan, 220mm) on flat train cars at the train station in government-controlled Rubizhne (84km north-west of Luhansk) on 19 September.

Beyond the withdrawal lines but outside assigned areas the SMM observed ten stationary tanks (T-64) at a known training ground in “LPR”-controlled Myrne (28km south-west of Luhansk).

The SMM observed weapons that could not be verified as withdrawn, as their storage does not comply with criteria set forth in the 16 October 2015 notification. In government-controlled areas beyond the respective withdrawal lines, the SMM noted all 14 MLRS (BM27 Uragan, 220mm) previously observed as missing: six were first recorded as missing on 6 May and eight were observed as missing for the first time. Meanwhile, the SMM observed for the first time 12 additional MLRS (BM27 Uragan, 220mm).

The SMM revisited a Ukrainian Armed Forces permanent storage site and noted that all weapons previously verified as withdrawn to the site were present.

The SMM observed the presence of armoured combat vehicles in the security zone. In government-controlled areas the SMM observed three armoured personnel carriers (APCs; BRDM-1) heading to a forest near Marinka (23km south-west of Donetsk) on 19 September; one infantry fighting vehicle (IFV; BMP-2) loaded on a truck moving west near Stepove (30km north-east of Luhansk). In “DPR”-controlled areas the SMM observed one APC (BTR-80) together with other vehicles, including four military-type trucks and two pick-up trucks both mounted with heavy machine-guns, heading south near Debaltseve (57km north-east of Donetsk).

In government-controlled Troitske (69km west of Luhansk), the SMM saw two Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers with insignias of “Georgian Legion” on their uniforms. The SMM also noted that they spoke Georgian.  Three residents separately told the SMM that soldiers of Georgian origin were accommodated in houses in the village.

The SMM continued to observe the presence of a mine hazard sign and unexploded ordnance (UXO) near populated areas. In “DPR”-controlled Rozsypne (59km east of Donetsk), the SMM saw for the first time a mine hazard sign reading “Mines” (written in white letters in Russian on a blue background), at the entrance of an open-air facility of a railway station just south of the railroad tracks. There was a red triangle above it; another red triangle could be seen inside the facility. On 19 September, while 5km north of Troitske the SMM saw a piece of UXO it assessed as a 122mmm artillery shell without a detonator about 5m from the main road. Two farmers told the SMM that the UXO had been dug out while ploughing the fields on the other side of the road and moved to the current location just a few days prior.

In “LPR”-controlled Raivka (16km north-west of Luhansk) the SMM followed up on reports from the Russian Federation officer at the JCCC about a mine-explosion incident east of the village. Residents and armed men separately told the SMM that on the morning of 15 September two young men (in their twenties), while traveling by bicycle on a forest path, had detonated a mine and one of them had been wounded in the leg. In Avdiivka, the police chief informed the SMM about an explosion incident at a transportation base for industrial trucks on 16 September, resulting in one employee killed and two injured. He added that the two injured had been admitted to a hospital in Avdiivka. Hospital staff in Avdiivka told the SMM that the severely wounded man had died because of the injuries, while the slightly wounded man had been released from the hospital. During the investigation, according to the police chief, the police had found remnants of what had appeared to be a rocket-propelled grenade and assessed that the men had mishandled the weapon.

The SMM facilitated and monitored repairs to essential infrastructure. In “LPR”-controlled Sentianivka (formerly Frunze, 44km west of Luhansk) the SMM monitored repairs to the railway tracks south of “LPR”-controlled Donetskyi (49km west of Luhansk). The SMM also monitored the cleaning of the water canal in the area of the power plant in government-controlled Shchastia (20km north of Luhansk), as well as the repair works on water pumps and pipes in “LPR”-controlled Krasnyi Lyman (30km north-west of Luhansk). In government-controlled Artema (26km north of Luhansk), the SMM monitored repairs to a high-voltage power line.

The SMM continued to follow up on reports of interrupted water supply to Luhansk city and nearby areas (see SMM Daily Report 18 September 2016). Residents in “LPR”-controlled Obozne and Metalist (18km north and 6km north-west of Luhansk respectively) told the SMM that water supply to the villages had resumed earlier that day or the previous day. Several residents in “LPR”-controlled Vesela Hora (16km north of Luhansk) separately said that the village still remained without water. In “LPR”-controlled Krasnyi Yar (12km north-east of Luhansk city centre, within the city) two residents (women aged 55-60) said that the village had been without water supply for five weeks and they did not know the reason for the shortage.

The SMM noted that the state of the wooden structure connecting the pieces of the destroyed bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska continued to be critical. The SMM observed that people were facing more difficulties in crossing the rickety foot-bridge when the structure was wet and slippery due to heavy rain.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation at schools along the contact line. On 19 September, in government-controlled Krasnohorivka (21km west of Donetsk) a local interlocutor told the SMM that Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers had used the roof of School no.1 as an observation post and a part of its grounds as a shooting range, damaging school facilities and equipment. According to the interlocutor, since April 2015 all children of School no. 1, which remains non-functional, had been transferred to School no.2. At School no.2 in Krasnohorivka the director stated that due to the shelling in February 2015 the third floor of the three-storey building became unusable and the heating system remained non-operational for the whole school building. In “DPR”-controlled Olkhovatka (52km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM saw several military-type vehicles and several unarmed men wearing military-style clothes in a facility consisting of three buildings and a playground. A resident told the SMM that the facility had been used as a kindergarten before, but had then been occupied by armed men several months before. After an unarmed guard denied the SMM access to the facility,* the SMM launched a mini unmanned aerial vehicle in the area, which spotted the presence of seven military-type trucks and one command vehicle on the premises.

The SMM monitored one border area currently not under government control. While stationary at the Ulianivske pedestrian border crossing point (61km south-east of Donetsk) for 73 minutes, the SMM observed a calm situation with one pedestrian (man in his fifties) crossing into Ukraine. The SMM also noted the crossing point staffed by armed men.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation along the administrative boundary line between the mainland and Crimea. The SMM noted a calm situation at the crossing points near Kalanchak, Chaplynka and Chonhar (67, 77 and 163km south-east of Kherson, respectively) and in adjacent areas.

*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.

Denial of access:

• On 19 September at a checkpoint 5km south-west of “DPR”-controlled Kalmiuske (former Komsomolske, 42km south-east of Donetsk), four armed “DPR” members prevented the SMM from proceeding to the town.
• On 19 September in “DPR”-controlled Olkhovatka, an unarmed guard wearing military-style clothes denied the SMM access to a kindergarten occupied by armed men.

[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.