Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 3 September 2018

This report is for the media and the general public.

The SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, compared with the previous 24 hours. Following the explosion on Pushkina Boulevard in Donetsk city on 31 August, the Mission continued to observe a calm situation in the city centre. The Mission recorded ceasefire violations near the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area as well as near Topolyne and Pryvilne.* The Mission observed weapons in violation of the withdrawal lines near Kremenivka. It continued to monitor the situation at the closed entry-exit checkpoint near Stanytsia Luhanska and to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station. The SMM’s observations remained limited due to security considerations.

In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations,[1] including a similar number of explosions (six), compared with the previous 24 hours (seven explosions).

On the evening and night of 2-3 September, the SMM camera in Chermalyk (government-controlled, 31km north-east of Mariupol) recorded 34 projectiles in flight 2-4km south-east and south.

During the day on 3 September, positioned 1km north-west of the railway station in Yasynuvata (non-government-controlled, 16km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard four undetermined explosions and six shots and bursts of small-arms fire, all 1-6km south-west and west.

In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations (three explosions), compared with the previous 24 hours (five explosions).

Following the explosion on Pushkina Boulevard in Donetsk city on 31 August, on 3 September, the SMM continued to observe a calm situation in the city centre (non-government-controlled).

The SMM followed up on reports of people injured in the above-mentioned explosion. While at the Kalinina morgue in Donetsk city on 3 September, the SMM was informed that the bodies of Aleksandr Zakharchenko and another member of the armed formations (a member of Zakharchenko’s personal security detail) had been brought to the facility with fatal wounds from the explosion. On the same day, at the Gusak Hospital in Donetsk city, medical staff told the SMM that after the explosion on 31 August six people had been admitted with various blast-related injuries, however, they refused to provide the Mission with further details.* On the same day, medical staff at the Kalinina Hospital in Donetsk city refused to provide the SMM information about people injured in the explosion on 31 August without permission from senior members of the armed formations.*

The SMM continued to monitor 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[2] (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.*

During the day on 3 September, positioned 150m north-north-west of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge (15km north-east of Luhansk), the SMM heard an undetermined explosion 1-2km north-east. Positioned 700m north-north-west of the bridge, the Mission heard an undetermined explosion 5-6km south-east. Positioned 250m south-east of the bridge, it heard an undetermined explosion 700-800m south. The SMM assessed all explosions to have occurred outside the disengagement area.

Positioned near the Petrivske disengagement area, the SMM noted a calm situation.

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

In violation of the withdrawal lines in a government-controlled area, on 3 September, the SMM saw 12 self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) on the eastern edge of  Kremenivka (27km north-west of Mariupol).

The SMM observed armoured combat vehicles[3] in the security zone. In government-controlled areas, on 1 September, an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spotted an armoured personnel carrier (APC) (BTR-80) near Troitske (30km north of Donetsk), an APC (BTR-70) and an armoured reconnaissance vehicle (BRDM-2) near Nevelske (18km north-west of Donetsk), an armoured reconnaissance vehicle (BRDM-2) near Krasnohorivka (21km west of Luhansk), two infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) (BMP-1) near Berezove (31km south-west of Donetsk), two IFVs (a BMP-1 and a BMP-2) near Hnutove (90km south of Donetsk) and four IFVs (three BMP-2 and a BMP-1) near Bohdanivka (41km south of Donetsk).

In non-government-controlled areas, an SMM long-range UAV spotted an APC (BTR-80) near Syhnalne (23km south-west of Donetsk).

The SMM monitored the situation at entry-exit checkpoints. The Mission saw that the entry-exit checkpoint north of the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge remained closed (see SMM Daily Report 3 September). It observed no pedestrians and saw an excavator, a crane, trucks and workers erecting a new structure in the parking area. Following the reported closure of checkpoints in non-government-controlled Horlivka (39km north-east of Donetsk) and Oleksandrivka (20km south-west of Donetsk) after the above-mentioned explosion in Donetsk city and their re-opening on 1 September (see SMM Daily Report 3 September), the SMM observed a calm situation with pedestrian and vehicular traffic crossing through the entry-exit checkpoints on the other side of contact line in Marinka (23km south-west of Donetsk) and Maiorsk (45km north-east of Donetsk).

The SMM continued to facilitate the operation of the Donetsk Filtration Station, including through monitoring adherence to the ceasefire. Positioned in areas near the station, the SMM recorded ceasefire violations, despite explicit security guarantees (see above and the table below).

In Boiarka (21km south-west of Kyiv), the SMM monitored a dedication ceremony of a reconstructed monument at 42 Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street. It saw about 100 people (mixed genders and ages) participating in the event, including members of the Jewish community. Participants told the SMM that the ceremony was to commemorate the Jewish victims of a pogrom at that location. Throughout the event, the Mission observed a calm situation.

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 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 (for example, see SMM Daily Report 31 August 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:

• Two Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers denied the SMM access to a military compound near Topolyne (19km north-west of Mariupol), citing a need to obtain permission from superiors.
• An Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier denied the SMM access to a military compound near Pryvilne (31km north of Mariupol) saying he had not received information about an SMM visit.

Regular restrictions 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 no demining had taken place during the previous 24 hours. The SMM did not consider it safe to proceed and informed the JCCC both times.[4]

Other impediments:

• Medical staff at the Kalinina Hospital in Donetsk city refused to provide the SMM information about people injured in the explosion on Pushkina Boulevard in Donetsk city on 31 August (see above) without permission from senior members of the armed formations.
• Medical staff at the Gusak Hospital in Donetsk city requested the SMM to obtain permission from senior members of the armed formations in order to provide details of people injured in the explosion on Pushkina Boulevard in Donetsk city on 31 August (see above).

[1] For a complete breakdown of the ceasefire violations, please see the annexed table. The SMM camera in Kriakivka was not operational during the reporting period.

[2] Due to the presence of mines, including those on a road between Bohdanivka and Petrivske, the SMM’s access   to its camera in Petrivske remains limited; thus, the review of the camera footage may take place days later.

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

[4] The SMM informed Ukrainian Armed Forces officers of the JCCC. Russian Federation Armed Forces officers of the JCCC have withdrawn from the JCCC as of 18 December 2017.