17:05 20.10.2017

OSCE SMM again urges conflicting sides in Donbas to disengage

2 min read
OSCE SMM again urges conflicting sides in Donbas to disengage

The conflicting sides in Donbas should withdraw their weapons to beyond firing range in order to avoid an escalation of the conflict and ensure a lasting truce, the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Alexander Hug, said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

The OSCE SMM observed 3,335 ceasefire breaches in eastern Ukraine last week, which was 45% more than the week before, Hug said.

The growing number of ceasefire breaches reflects the general trend: heavy weapons have yet to be withdrawn, and the sides have positions too close to one another, he said.

The monitoring mission saw 55 pieces of weapons deployed in violation of the contact line regulations, including 26 in the areas held by Ukraine and 29 on other territories, Hug said.

An OSCE SMM drone tracked down, for instance, five artillery guns and three Rapira cannons in DPR-held Novoselivka, Hug said, adding that those weapons should have been moved at least 25 kilometers away from the contact line.

Twenty artillery weapons were detected by the observers' drone in Kyiv-held Oleksandropil, Hug said. Those weapons were also supposed to be moved 25 kilometers from the contact line, he said.

Also, the SMM has seen the sides reinforcing their firing positions, which are located less than 100 meters from one another in some places, Hug said.

Ceasefire violations of the kind are nothing other than a smoldering conflict, but it has become clear over the past 3.5 years that nothing is certain, and no one knows what stage the conflict is going through, Hug said. Hostilities are low-intensity today, but tensions may escalate abruptly at any moment, he said.

Hug urged the sides to act immediately in order to ensure a lasting truce and prevent an escalation of the conflict.

The sides should fulfill the obligations they took upon themselves in Minsk over three years ago, withdraw their weapons to beyond firing range, and disengage their forces and hardware, Hug said. If this is done, the truce will hold, he said.

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