Five children casualties in conflict-related incidents in eastern Ukraine of the last weeks bring the total number of those killed or injured this year to 28, according to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. “Since I last spoke here, three children have died and two others have been injured. Near Horlivka, Kirill, 14; Andrei, 13; and Vitalii, 12 years old; were killed and 10-year-old Dmitrii was injured. Anna, aged 16, was injured in Staromyhailivka on the same day [September 30],” said Alexander Hug, First Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. Among adults, some 200 civilians were killed or injured this year.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces has taken a welcome step in establishing a Civilian Casualties Mitigation Team. It is a step – aiming at zero civilian casualties – that urgently needs to be replicated on the other side of the contact line,” Alexander Hug noted.
Last week, the OSCE SMM has recorded over 6600 ceasefire violations in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of 2018, the OSCE monitors have recorded over 218,000 ceasefire violations and over 3000 Minsk-proscribed weapons in violation of agreed withdrawal lines.