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Ukraine

Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 18 January 2018

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This report is for the media and the general public.

The SMM recorded more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and fewer in Luhansk region compared with the previous 24 hours. It followed up on reports of the deaths of two persons in Donetsk city. The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske; it saw an armoured personnel carrier near the Petrivske disengagement area. The SMM’s access remained restricted in all three areas and elsewhere. The Mission again facilitated and monitored repairs to a fibre optic cable near Shchastia. In Khartsyzk, it continued to monitor the situation of internally displaced persons. The SMM followed up on reports of flooding in Chihari due to a leaking water pipeline. The Mission visited two border areas not under government control. It monitored the administrative boundary line between Kherson region and Crimea and noted a calm situation.

In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded more ceasefire violations[1], including about 200 explosions, compared with the previous reporting period (about 60 explosions).

On the evening and night of 17-18 January, the SMM camera at the Donetsk Filtration Station (15km north of Donetsk) recorded, in sequence, two projectiles in flight from west to east, 26 undetermined explosions, a projectile from west to east, three undetermined explosions, and a projectile from west to east, followed by totals of 27 undetermined explosions, 115 projectiles (two from east to west and 113 from west to east) and an illumination flare in vertical flight, all 0.5-1.5km south.

On the evening of 17 January, the SMM camera in government-controlled Avdiivka (17km north of Donetsk) recorded six undetermined explosions followed by a projectile in flight from north to south, all 4-6km south-east. During the day on 18 January, positioned on the south-western edge of Avdiivka for over five and a half hours, the SMM heard 12 undetermined explosions and almost 50 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun fire, all 2-5km at directions ranging from east-south-east to south-west.

On the evening of 17 January, while in government-controlled Svitlodarsk (57km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard 26 undetermined explosions and over 650 bursts and shots of heavy-machine-gun and small-arms fire, all 2-5km east and south-east. On the afternoon of 18 January, while at the same location, the SMM heard 15 explosions assessed as impacts 2-4km at undetermined directions.

On the morning of 18 January, positioned in government-controlled Myronivskyi (62km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard 18 undetermined explosions 2-5km north-east.

On the evening of 17 January, while in “DPR”-controlled Debaltseve (58km north-east of Donetsk), the SMM heard 23 undetermined explosions 6-8km west-south-west.

On the morning of 18 January, positioned 4.7km north-west of “DPR”-controlled Vuhlehirsk (49km north-east of Donetsk) for 50 minutes, the SMM heard 24 explosions assessed as outgoing rounds – 20 as those of a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) (type unknown) and four as those of undetermined weapons – 6-8km south-west and an undetermined explosion 6-8km west-south-west.

Positioned in “DPR”-controlled Verkhnoshyrokivske (formerly Oktiabr, 29km north-east of Mariupol), the SMM heard almost one hour of uncountable bursts of heavy-machine-gun fire at an undetermined distance south-west.

In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, including 13 explosions, compared with the previous reporting period (about 75 explosions).

The SMM followed up on reports of the deaths of two persons. On 17 January, at the morgue in “DPR”-controlled Donetsk city’s Kalininskyi district, staff told the Mission that the body of a man (born in 1970) had been delivered to the morgue from 56 Kirova Street on 11 January, and that a post-mortem examination had indicated that the man had died due to injuries sustained from the explosion of a hand grenade. On 18 January, the man’s wife told the Mission that “DPR” members had told her that they had found pieces of a grenade in the man’s hands after an explosion at a bus stop at 56 Kirova Street. Two workers at a business near the bus stop told the SMM that an explosion had occurred on 11 January in the early evening while they were inside.

On 17 January, the Kalininskyi district morgue staff also told the Mission that the body of a man (born in 1945) had been delivered to the morgue on 14 January, and that a post-mortem examination had indicated that he had died of a heart attack. The staff said that the man had died while passing through a checkpoint on road H15 east of “DPR”-controlled Kreminets (16km south-west of Donetsk).