OSCE: Number of Shellings in Donbas Increased by 10 Percent in One Week

Photo from Ukrinform–UATV

The number of shellings in Donbas increased by 10 percent compared to the week before.

The mission recorded 4,827 ceasefire violations.

This was announced during a briefing by the principal deputy chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM), Alexander Hug, Ukrinform reported.

“Last week, the OSCE SMM observed 10 percent increase in the number of ceasefire violations, with an almost nine-fold increase in instances where weapons proscribed under the Minsk agreements were used,” Hug said.

The OSCE SMM recorded 4,827 ceasefire violations in Eastern Ukraine last week. The mission observed 144 weapons in violation of withdrawal lines; 49 in government-controlled areas and 95 of them in areas not controlled by the government.

OSCE monitors confirmed that 11 civilians were injured, and dozens of civilian houses or apartment buildings were damaged in Eastern Ukraine as a result of the shellings. “In just one small area of Staromykhailivka, within a radius of just 800 meters, our monitoring officers, for example, last week observed 13 homes damaged,” Hug elaborated.

“Also, the mission recorded the presence of mines. Soon, with vegetation growing quickly, these mines and thousands of others littered across the contact line will no longer be visible. In the absence of making these mines visible through marking or fencing, which the sides have promised they will do, these weapons will claim even more innocent lives,” the deputy chief monitor added.

The Donetsk Filtration Station was also attacked on Tuesday. As a result, five workers were wounded, and one more injured. “On Wednesday this week, the Donetsk Filtration Station was closed and sealed, and its operations ceased,” Hug noted.