Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 16 April 2018

This report is for the media and the general public.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. The SMM observed damage in a residential area of Yasynuvata. Near Chabanivka, shots were again fired at an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it observed ceasefire violations near Stanytsia Luhanska. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas as well as near Izvaryne near the border with the Russian Federation, and in Starohnativka.* The SMM observed weapons in violation of withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line. The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to electrical infrastructure near Maiorsk, the Petrivske pumping station and a high-voltage powerline near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka. In Kyiv, the SMM followed up on reports of an incident involving firearms in a building where internally displaced persons are known to live.

In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations[1] including fewer explosions (about 80) compared with the previous 24 hours (about 360 explosions).

On the evening and night of 15-16 April, the SMM camera at the Donetsk Filtration Station (15km north of Donetsk) recorded, in sequence, three projectiles in flight from west to east, six undetermined explosions, three projectiles from east to west, two undetermined explosions, a projectile from east to west, six projectiles from west to east, an undetermined explosion and a projectile from west to east, all 1-3km south.

On the evening and night of 15-16 April, the SMM camera at the entry-exit checkpoint in Pyshchevyk (government-controlled, 84km south of Donetsk) recorded, in sequence, nine projectiles in flight from west to east, four projectiles from east to west, seven projectiles from west to east and a projectile from east to west, followed by totals of three undetermined explosions, 91 projectiles from east to west and 73 projectiles from west to east, all 0.5-2km east-south-east.

On the evening of 15 April, while in Horlivka (non-government-controlled, 39km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard 44 undetermined explosions and three bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire, all 3-8km west and south-south-west.

In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations during the reporting period, including, however, fewer explosions (five) compared with the previous 24 hours (six explosions).

While in Stanytsia Luhanska on 17 April, the SMM heard 18 explosions assessed as outgoing artillery rounds 1-2km north-west at 01:55. Between 02:00 and 02:04, while in Luhansk city (non-government-controlled), the SMM heard 15 explosions 7km south-east.[2]                                                

On 15 April, the SMM observed damage in a residential area of Yasynuvata (non-government-controlled, 16km north-east of Donetsk). On the south-west facing side of the roof of a shed at 1 Pushkina Street in Yasynuvata, the SMM observed a fresh hole (approximately 25cm in diameter) which it assessed as caused by the direct hit of an undetermined projectile. The SMM also saw fresh scratches to the side of a two-storey house 4m from the shed and the door of a garage adjacent to the house, which it assessed as caused by shrapnel. A man (in his twenties) told the SMM that he had been taking care of the house while its owners were away and that he had been working in the garden behind the house at around 09:00 on 14 April when shelling began nearby. When the shelling began so he took cover in the house, at which point he heard an explosion and felt a shock wave.

The SMM observed three chipped windows and a fresh indentation 1-2cm in diameter in an entrance door on the east-facing side of a single-storey multi-unit apartment building at 1 Vatutina Street in Yasynuvata. A woman (in her sixties) who identified herself as a resident of the building told the SMM she had been in the building at around 09:20 on 14 April when she heard what she described as explosion in the air outside the building. She added that there had been intense shelling in the area from 09:00 to 09:10 that morning. Four other neighbours separately told the SMM that the damage had occurred just after 09:00 on 14 April, one of them saying he saw airbursts.

The SMM heard shots and bursts close to its position while conducting a mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight. While flying a mini-UAV near Chabanivka (government-controlled, 66km north-west of Luhansk), the SMM heard more than 100 shots and bursts of small-arms and heavy-machine-gun fire 400-500m west. Imagery taken by the UAV later revealed military position about 700m west of the SMM’s position. The UAV had been flying 300m west from this military position when the SMM heard bursts from at least four different small arms and one heavy machine-gun 400-500m west. The SMM initiated an emergency landing of the UAV; the small-arms and heavy-machine-gun bursts followed the UAV’s flight path towards the SMM position but ceased once the UAV was within visual range of the SMM. As the SMM was departing the area, it encountered five soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, one of whom apologized for the incident after saying that he had ordered his men to shoot at the UAV “because he had not received advanced warning of the flight”. The flight plan had previously been communicated by the SMM to Ukrainian Armed Forces officers of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC).

The SMM continued to monitor the disengagement process and to pursue full access to the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska (government-controlled, 16km north-east of Luhansk), Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk) and Petrivske (non-government-controlled, 41km south of Donetsk), as foreseen in the Framework Decision of the Trilateral Contact Group relating to disengagement of forces and hardware of 21 September 2016. The SMM’s access remained restricted, but the Mission was able to partially monitor them.*

On the morning of 16 April, while in Stanytsia Luhanska, the SMM heard two undetermined explosions 5km south-west, assessed as outside the disengagement area.

On 16 April, positioned near the Petrivske and Zolote disengagement areas, the SMM observed calm situations.

The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons in implementation of the Package of Measures and its Addendum as well as the Memorandum.

In violation of withdrawal lines, in non-government-controlled areas, on 13 April an SMM mini-UAV spotted four tanks (T-64) near Novohryhorivka (33km west of Luhansk). On 16 April, the SMM saw seven self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm), seven tanks (T-72), seven multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) (BM-21 Grad, 122mm), seven surface-to-air missile systems (9K35 Strela-10) and ten towed howitzers (five 2A65 Msta-B, 152mm, and five D-30 Lyagushka, 122mm) at an airfield on the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city. In government-controlled areas, an SMM mid-range UAV spotted six self-propelled howitzers (2S3 Akatsiya, 152mm) near Yablunivka (49km north of Donetsk) on 14 April.

Beyond withdrawal lines but outside designated storage sites in government-controlled areas, on 14 April an SMM mid-range UAV spotted 16 tanks near Oleksandro-Kalynove (47km north of Donetsk). On 15 April, an SMM mid-range UAV spotted four tanks (T-72) near Lysychansk (75km north-west of Luhansk). On 16 April, the SMM saw a towed mortar (2B9 Vasilek, 82mm) near Verkhnokamianka (84km north-west of Luhansk).

The SMM observed weapons that could not be verified as withdrawn, as their storage did not comply with the criteria set out in the 16 October 2015 notification from the SMM to the signatories of the Package of Measures on effective monitoring and verification of the withdrawal of heavy weapons. In government-controlled areas of Donetsk region beyond the respective withdrawal lines, the SMM saw 31 tanks (T-64), four anti-tank guns (MT-12 Rapira, 100mm) and three towed howitzers (2A36 Giatsint-B, 152mm) and noted the following weapons were again missing: two towed mortars (2B9), nine mortars (PM-38, 120mm), 55 tanks (T-64), 36 self-propelled howitzers (16 2S1; 20 2S3) 23 towed howitzers (18 D20, 152mm; five 2A36), and two anti-aircraft missile systems (9K33 Osa).

The SMM observed armoured combat vehicles, anti-tank guns and small aerial vehicles[3] in the security zone. In government-controlled-areas on 16 April, the SMM saw two infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) (BMP-2) and an armoured personnel carrier (APC) (BTR variant) near Karlivka (25km north-west of Donetsk), three IFVs (BMP-2) near Chermalyk (31km north-east of Mariupol), two IFVs (BMP-2) near Lebedynske (16km north-east of Mariupol), three IFVs (BMP variant) east of Mariupol (102km south of Donetsk) and four IFVs (BMP variants) and an APC (MT-LB) in Zolote-3 (60km west of Luhansk).

In non-government-controlled areas, the SMM observed two microlight aerial vehicles circling Starobesheve (32km south-east of Donetsk) on 15 April. On 16 April, the SMM saw two anti-tank guns (one ZiS-2, 57mm and one ZiS-3, 76mm), seven IFVs (BMP-2), seven APCs (BTR-80) and an armoured recovery vehicle (BREM-1) at an airfield on the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city.

The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to electrical infrastructure near Maiorsk (government-controlled, 45km north-east of Donetsk), the Petrivske pumping station near Artema (government-controlled, 26km north of Luhansk) and a high voltage powerline near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka (non-government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk).

The SMM visited three border areas not under government control. At a border crossing point near Dovzhanske (84km south-east of Luhansk) over a period of about 75 minutes, the SMM saw 26 cars (12 with Ukrainian, 13 with Russian Federation and one with Georgian licence plates), five covered cargo trucks (with Ukrainian licence plates), two buses (with Ukrainian licence plates) and 17 pedestrians exiting Ukraine as well as 12 cars (five with Ukrainian and seven with Russian Federation licence plates), three buses (with Ukrainian licence plates), one covered cargo truck (with Ukrainian licence plates), and 13 pedestrians entering Ukraine.

At a border crossing point near Izvaryne (52km south-east of Luhansk) over a period of about 15 minutes, the SMM observed five pedestrians entering Ukraine.* At a border crossing point near Verkhnoharasymivka (57km south-east of Luhansk) over a period of about 20 minutes, the SMM observed ten pedestrians exiting Ukraine and four pedestrians entering Ukraine.

The SMM followed up on media reports of an incident involving firearms in Kyiv. Outside a three-storey residential building at 60 Obukhivska Street where internally displaced persons and ATO veterans are known to live, the SMM saw eight police cars, an ambulance and 25 police officers, as well as an activist known to the SMM as the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The SMM saw a man (aged 40-50) leaving the ambulance with a bloody bandage covering the left side of his forehead and fresh bloodstains on his shirt. The man told the SMM that he had been in his room in the building at 60 Obukhivska Street when some men forcibly entered it, causing him to shoot his hunting rifle in the air. He said he had then been shot twice in his back and once in his forehead. He told the SMM that he had come from Crimea four years ago. A woman told the SMM that as she was leaving the building at about 10:30, she saw three black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicles approach and a group of 20 to 30 men in black clothes forcing open the doors of the building with crowbars. A few moments later, she heard a shot fired.

The SMM continued monitoring in Kherson, Odessa, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Chernivtsi.

*Restrictions of SMM’s freedom of movement or other impediments to fulfilment of its mandate

The SMM’s monitoring and freedom of movement are restricted by security hazards and threats, including risks posed by mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) 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. They have also agreed that the JCCC should contribute to such response and co-ordinate mine clearance. Nonetheless, the armed formations in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions frequently deny the SMM access to areas adjacent to Ukraine’s border outside control of the Government (see below). The SMM’s operations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions remain restricted following the fatal incident of 23 April 2017 near Pryshyb; these restrictions continued to limit the Mission’s observations.

Denial of access:

• Two soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces demanded the SMM leave Starohnativka (government-controlled, 51km south of Donetsk).
• At a border crossing point near Izvaryne, a member of an armed formation again told the SMM that it had to leave the area.
• While conducting a scheduled mini-UAV flight near Chabanivka, the SMM heard more than 100 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire 400-500m west. The SMM landed the UAV, left the area and safely returned to base.

Related to disengagement areas and mines/UXO:     

• The SMM was prevented from accessing parts of the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, with the exception of the main road, due to the possible presence of mines and UXO. A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer of the JCCC told the SMM that he had no information regarding demining activities over the previous 24 hours. The SMM did not consider it safe to proceed and informed the JCCC on both occasions.
• The SMM was prevented from accessing secondary roads in the Zolote disengagement area due to the possible presence of mines and UXO. A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer of the JCCC told the SMM by phone that he had no information regarding demining in the area during the previous 24 hours. The SMM did not consider it safe to proceed and informed the JCCC on both occasions.
• The SMM was prevented from accessing secondary roads south of the Zolote disengagement area due to the possible presence of mines and UXO. An armed formation member positioned on the southern side of the Zolote disengagement area told the SMM that no demining had taken place during the previous 24 hours. The SMM did not consider it safe to proceed.

Conditional:

• The SMM had to wait 80 minutes before being permitted to cross a checkpoint of the armed formations near Verkhnoshyrokivske (formerly Oktiabr, 29km north-east of Mariupol). Members of the armed formations allowed the SMM to pass only after it provided them with their patrol itinerary.

[1]    For a complete breakdown of the ceasefire violations, please see the annexed table.

*   Please see the section at the end of this report entitled “Restrictions of SMM’s freedom of movement or other impediments to fulfilment of its mandate”.

[2]    These observations fall outside the reporting period and are therefore not included in the ceasefire violation statistics in the previous paragraph.

[3]    This hardware is not proscribed by the provisions of the Minsk agreements on the withdrawal of weapons.