OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM): Status Report, 2 May 2018

Between 16 and 29 April 2018, the SMM recorded almost 8,300 ceasefire violations along the contact line in the east of Ukraine—a ten per cent decrease on the previous two-week reporting period. There was a notable upsurge in violence on 24 and 25 April, during which 30 per cent of the total number of recorded ceasefire violations occurred.The ongoing violence resulted in a number of civilian casualties, with six people killed and 17 injured. This brings the total number of civilian casualties confirmed by the SMM since the beginning of the year to 74, including 18 fatalities. (…)During the reporting period, the SMM’s freedom of movement remained restricted due to the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance on both sides of the contact line, as well as due to restrictions, mostly denied access, by members of the armed formations (23 times) and by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (five times). In one incident on 28 April at a checkpoint near Horlivka, members of the armed formations threatened to detain patrol members (see <www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/379075>). Moreover, the sides continue to target SMM unmanned aerial vehicles, jamming them and directing small-arms fire at them.Since 18 April, the SMM has been facilitating and monitoring access for Voda Donbassa water company employees to and from the Donetsk Filtration Station after employees came under small-arms fire and were wounded on 17 April. The Donetsk Filtration Station is an important civilian infrastructure facility that supplies water to more than 300,000 people on both sides of the contact line.

SMM daily reports are available in three languages (English, Ukrainian and Russian) on the OSCE website: <www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/reports> (…)

Quelle: OSZE, Status Report, 2 May 2018, <https://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/379768?download=true>