Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 17 April 2018

This report is for the media and the general public.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and Luhansk region compared with the previous reporting period. The SMM followed up on reports of Voda Donbassa employees injured by gunfire near the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS). It followed up on reports of shelling at an airfield in Luhansk city. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it recorded ceasefire violations inside the Zolote and the Petrivske disengagement areas. Its access remained restricted in all three disengagement areas and elsewhere.* 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 the Petrivske pumping station, the Zolote-Popasna water pipeline, a high-voltage powerline near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka and a water pipeline near Maiorsk. It visited one border area not under government control.

In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations[1], including more explosions (about 240), compared with the previous reporting period.

On the evening and night of 16-17 April, the SMM camera at the Donetsk Filtration Station (15km north of Donetsk) recorded, in sequence, two undetermined explosions, eight projectiles in flight from west to east and two undetermined explosions, followed by a total of nine undetermined explosions and 46 projectiles (25 from east to west and 12 from west to east), all 1-3km south.

On the night of 16-17 April, the SMM camera at the entry-exit checkpoint in Maiorsk (government-controlled, 45km north-east of Donetsk) recorded 12 undetermined explosions 1-3km east-south-east.

During the day on 17 April, positioned on the south-western edge of Avdiivka (government-controlled, 17km north of Donetsk), the SMM heard 16 undetermined explosions and seven bursts of small-arms fire, all 1-5km east and east-south-east.

During the day on 17 April, while in Svitlodarsk (government-controlled, 57km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard seven undetermined explosions and 70 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, all 3-8km at directions ranging from south-east to west.

On the evening and night of 16-17 April, while in Horlivka (non-government-controlled, 39km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard 96 undetermined explosions and seven minutes of uncountable overlapping shots and bursts of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, all 2-6km west, south-south-west and north-north-west.

In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations, including more explosions (about 60), compared with the previous reporting period.

On 17 April, while in Stanytsia Luhanska, 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]

The SMM heard shots of small-arms fire close to its position. Positioned in Smile (non-government-controlled, 31km north-west of Luhansk), the SMM heard 11 shots of small-arms fire 200m south-south-west and immediately left the area. The SMM assessed the shots as part of live-fire training inside the security zone, in violation of the decision of the Trilateral Contact Group as of 3 March 2016 that prohibits the conduct of live-fire training (exercises) in the security zone.

The SMM followed up on reports that Voda Donbassa employees had been wounded by gunfire near the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS). In the late afternoon of 17 April, a representative of Voda Donbassa water company told the SMM via telephone that employees of the company had come under fire around 15:40 that day while traveling from the DFS towards Yasynuvata (non-government-controlled, 16km north east of Donetsk). He added that at the time of the incident there had been about 30 employees on the bus, which had been traveling in a convoy with another vehicle. Later that day at the Railway Hospital in Yasynuvata, medical staff told the SMM that five people had been admitted with shrapnel wounds on 17 April. At the same hospital, a member of the armed formations told the SMM that five Voda Donbassa employees (four men and a woman aged 30-60) had been injured by shrapnel while travelling on a bus near the junction of roads H20 and M04 on the afternoon of 17 April. In front of the hospital, the SMM saw a man (in his forties) with a white bandage on his head among a group of about 30 employees of Voda Donbassa standing near a bus. The SMM saw a hole in the exterior of the bus’s rear side. Inside the bus, it saw a hole in the rear matching the exterior damage in the same spot, a hole in a metal pole and blood stains on a seat and on the floor on the right side of the rear and on the rear entrance stairs. The SMM assessed that a 5.45mm bullet had penetrated the rear side of the bus and ricocheted off the metal pole inside. The driver of the bus told the SMM that at the time of the incident the bus had been traveling in a convoy with another vehicle from the DFS on road H20 towards the junction with road M04. (A bus that carried DFS employees on 17 April had come under fire while moving from road H20 towards the DFS on 12 March 2018. (See SMM Daily Report of 13 March 2018.))

On 18 April, at the Donetsk Trauma Hospital, the SMM saw a man (aged 42) with bandages covering his right arm. Medical staff at the same hospital told the SMM that the man was one of the DFS employees and he had been transferred from a hospital in Yasynuvata around 18:00 on 17 April with shrapnel wounds to his right arm and chest. The man told the SMM that he had been on the bus when he had heard an explosion and seen smoke. He said he had felt pain in his arm and it had started bleeding.  

The SMM followed up on reports of shelling at an airfield in the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city (about 400m from the nearest residential area and about 7km from the city center) in the early morning hours of 17 April. (For previous observations, see SMM Daily Report 16 April 2018). The SMM saw six fresh craters in the south-western part of the airfield, located at distances of about 20-40m from each other. The SMM assessed the craters as caused by rounds of undetermined weapons fired from a north-north-easterly direction. At the site, the SMM saw that two military-type trucks, a trailer and two military-type tents were heavily damaged. It saw a surface-to-air missile system (9K35 Strela-10) with a hole in one of its rollers, an APC (BTR-80) with two tyres damaged, a military-type truck with its interior burnt out and rear door dented, a truck with two holes close to the rear side and two punctured tyres, a military-type truck with dents in the front, a fire truck with punctured tyres and a passenger car whose right side was destroyed and rear view window was shattered.

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 night of 16-17 April, the SMM camera in Stanytsia Luhanska (government-controlled, 16km north-east of Luhansk) recorded five undetermined explosions 15km south-west (assessed as outside the disengagement area). 

On the night of 16-17 April, the SMM camera near the Prince Ihor monument south-east of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge (15km north-east of Luhansk) recorded three undetermined explosions, one 5-8km north and two 14km south-west (all assessed as outside the disengagement area).

On the morning of 17 April, positioned 1.4km from the southern edge of the Zolote disengagement area, the SMM heard an undetermined explosion 500m south-west (assessed as inside the disengagement area).

On 17 April, positioned on the northern edge of Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk), the SMM saw a military truck transporting five armed Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers traveling from a Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint and enter the Zolote disengagement area.

On the morning of 17 April, positioned in Bohdanivka (government-controlled, 41km south-west of Donetsk), the SMM heard 64 shots of small-arms fire 2-3km east (assessed as inside the Petrivske disengagement area).

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, on 17 April in the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city the SMM saw weapons in violation. (For previous observations, see SMM Daily Report 16 April 2018). On 16 April, an SMM mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spotted a mortar (2B14 Podnos, 82mm) near Dovhe (22km north-west of Luhansk). On 17 April, the SMM saw a surface-to-air-missile system (9K35 Strela-10) and a tank (T-34) in the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city and 13 towed howitzers (D-30 Lyagushka, 122mm) near Novooleksandrivka (75km south-east of Donetsk).

Beyond withdrawal lines but outside designated storage sites in government-controlled areas, the SMM saw on 17 April four self-propelled howitzers (2S3 Akatsiya, 152mm) near Popasne (60km north-west of Luhansk), two tanks (T-80) east of Kalchyk (23km north of Mariupol), a tank (T-72) in Lysychansk (75km north-west of Luhansk), four surface-to-air missile systems (9K37 Buk) in Rubizhne (84km north-west of Luhansk) and two surface-to-air missile systems (9K37) near Rubizhne (73km north-west of Donetsk).

In non-government-controlled areas, the SMM saw on 17 April five tanks (T-72) north-west of Manuilivka (65km east of Donetsk) as well as three self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) and one towed howitzer (D-30 Lyagushka, 122mm) in Myrne (28km south-west of Luhansk).

The SMM observed armoured combat vehicles[3] and anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns in the security zone. In government-controlled areas, the SMM saw on 17 April an APC (BMP-2) about 2km north-east of Orlivka (21 km north-west of Donetsk), an IFV (BMP-2) near Mykolaivka Druha (55km north of Donetsk) and seven IFVs (five BMP-2 and two BMP variant) and an APC (MT-LB) near Zolote (60km west of Luhansk).

In non-government-controlled areas, an SMM mini-UAV on 16 April spotted an infantry fighting vehicle (BMP variant), an armoured personnel carrier (APC) (BTR-70) and an anti-aircraft gun (ZU-23, 23mm) mounted atop an APC (MT LB) near Dovhe. On 17 April, an SMM mini-UAV spotted an APC (BTR-80) in the south-eastern outskirts of Luhansk city.

The SMM continued to facilitate and monitor repairs to the Petrivske pumping station near Artema (government-controlled, 26km north of Luhansk), the Zolote-Popasna water pipeline (69km west of Luhansk), a high-voltage powerline near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka (60km west of Luhansk) and a water pipeline near Maiorsk (government-controlled, 45km north-east of Donetsk).

The SMM continued to observe unexploded ordnance (UXO). On 17 April about 3km west-north of Lyse (non-government-controlled, 22km south-east of Luhansk) the SMM saw a projectile tail assessed to be that of a multiple launch rocket system (9P140 Uragan, 220mm) 60m from the main road, on the left side.

The SMM visited a border area not under government control. While at a border crossing point near Marynivka (78km east of Donetsk) for about an hour, the SMM saw 52 cars (23 with Russian Federation, 19 with Ukrainian and one with Lithuanian licence plates, and nine with “DPR” plates) and three minivans with Ukrainian licence plates exiting Ukraine, as well as nine cars (four with Ukrainian and two with Russian licence plates, and four with “DPR” plates) and a minivan with Ukrainian licence plates entering Ukraine.

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

*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, 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 Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (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 SMM Daily Report 14 April 2018). 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:

• Positioned in non-government-controlled Smile, the SMM heard 11 shots of small-arms fire about 200m south-west. The SMM immediately left the area.
• While attempting to identify tracks of a possible APC on the asphalt near the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district (non-government-controlled, 15km south-west of Donetsk city centre) four members of the armed formations approached the SMM and told it to leave the area, as the SMM was in front of a “military compound”. The SMM left the area.

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.
• 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.
• 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. 

[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 have been previously reported in the SMM Daily 17 April 2018.

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