Essential humanitarian measures should be expedited, says OSCE SMM Chief Monitor at Permanent Council in Vienna

VIENNA, 4 April 2019 – Despite the latest recommitment to cease fire, beginning on 8 March, the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains volatile, the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, said in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council today in Vienna.

Civilians are still paying a heavy price, Ambassador Apakan said in his briefing to representatives of the OSCE’s participating States and Partners for Co-operation, with mines and unexploded ordnance, combined with a fluctuating number of ceasefire violations, already claiming 20 civilian casualties this year.  In addition, he noted that 16 mostly elderly people crossing the contact line had died of natural causes since the start of winter, a stark reminder of the wider hardship they have been forced to endure for five years now. 

Calling for full adherence to the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons, Ambassador Apakan added that recent lives lost had underlined also the urgent need for humanitarian mine action. In line with the Chairmanship’s priorities, he said the SMM would continue to focus on people, especially the most vulnerable. He highlighted the need to repair the bridge at Stanytsia Luhanska, saying “such essential humanitarian measures should be expedited.”