Spot Report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): Warning shots fired 50m from SMM in Pikuzy

This report is for the media and the general public.

At 14:03 on 14 June, an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was in Pikuzy (formerly Kominternove, non-government-controlled, 23km north-east of Mariupol) on the corner of roads T-0519 and C-051235, where it stopped to observe fresh tracks from what it assessed to be an infantry fighting vehicle (BMP-type) on the asphalt.

One of the patrol members exited his car, after which the entire patrol heard two short bursts of small-arms fire. From inside one of the vehicles, one of the SMM patrol members saw two men in military-style clothing standing about 50m south on the road. One of the men was armed with an assault rifle (AK-74) and firing his weapon, pointed in the general direction of the SMM, at an upwards 45-degree angle. The armed man then took two to three steps in the direction of the SMM, and fired another shot into the air in the general direction of the SMM, at an upwards 45-degree angle. After the last shot, both men turned and walked south along road C-051235.

The SMM assessed that the shots were fired to warn the patrol and force it to leave the area. The SMM immediately departed and returned safely to its base in Mariupol.