“Last week OSCE SMM monitors recorded at least 3930 MLRS, artillery and mortar explosions,” reported Alexander Hug, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine during a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. The monitors recorded a 60 % increase in the number of ceasefire violations.
95 % percent of the violence was concentrated around five main hotspots. “The most intense hotspot was in areas east and north-east of Mariupol. Last week a quarter of all ceasefire violations were recorded there. Another quarter were recorded in the Donetsk airport-Yasynuvata-Avdiivka area; twenty percent in the area between Krymske and Slovianoserbsk in the Luhansk region; another 20 percent in areas south-east and east of Svitlodarsk; and five percent in areas between Popasna, Pervomaisk and Troitske,” said Principal Deputy Chief Monitor, providing statistics.
The Krymske-Slovianoserbsk area saw a staggering 650% increase in the number of recorded ceasefire violations. “Last Sunday in Avdiivka, we recorded 22 salvos of multiple launch rocket systems, and additional 180 explosions. The following day in Horlivka, our monitors recorded 227 explosions in just four hours,” said Hug. He also informed that last week the SMM confirmed seven civilian casualties, including one fatality.