Александр Хуг, перший заступник голови Спеціальної моніторингової місії ОБСЄ в Україні

OSCE SMM: Over 4000 ceasefire violations recorded in Donbas last week

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Last week, the OSCE SMM recorded over 4,000 ceasefire violations in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. The intensity of hostilities and daily number of ceasefire violations significantly varied from day to day. “On Sunday, for instance, our monitors recorded over 400 ceasefire violations. The following day they registered almost 2,000,” reported Alexander Hug, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, at a Skype press-conference at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

Over the last week, the SMM monitors recorded the presence of 57 weapons in violation of withdrawal lines; 44 of them in areas not controlled by the Government and 13 in Government-controlled areas. 

Alexander Hug noted that in July the SMM monitors faced some 40 restrictions of freedom of movement in the southern part of Donetsk region, in the areas not controlled by the Government. “In areas close to the section of the Ukraine-Russian Federation border not controlled by the Government, the situation [with monitors’ freedom of movement] has been particularly bad. In the small town of Siedove, SMM patrols have been denied access since April last year. Similar restrictions prevail close to the section of the Ukraine-Russian Federation border not controlled by the Government in Luhansk region. Since mid-February this year, when the armed formations started regularly restricting the SMM’s access to these areas, the Mission has encountered restrictions over 126 times,” noted Alexander Hug.