The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded 10 thousand ceasefire violations in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine over the last week. 66 of them took place in Zolote disengagement area, said Alexander Hug, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM in Ukraine, at a press conference via Skype at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Moreover, the OSCE monitors observed 67 proscribed heavy weapons in violation of agreed withdrawal lines, 24 of them in Government-controlled areas and 43 in the areas controlled by the so-called “LPR” and “DPR”.
According to the OSCE SMM, two civilians were killed in conflict-related incidents last week. A man and a woman were killed by explosion as they stepped on a landmine walking across the field.
In his comment about the interview to “Foreign Policy” which had been published yesterday Alexander Hug noted that the text was “misleading” and “did not reflect his opinion”, adding that the amended version has already been issued. “As you know, we do not conclude on the facts we establish and we do not provide evidence. SMM’s facts speak for themselves,” he said. Alexander Hug reminded that the Mission has been providing a detailed description of weapons observed in non-Government controlled areas and reported about military convoys leaving and entering Ukraine through the section of Ukrainian-Russian border not controlled by Ukrainian Government. “We have seen and spoken to prisoners taken by the Ukranian Armed Forces, who claim to have been members of a Russian unit fighting on rotation in Ukraine. All of these facts have been made available,” Alexander Hug added.