The number of monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine has increased to 489 people, Deputy Head of OSCE SMM Alexander Hug has said.

Seventeen new monitors came and thus their total number has reached 489 people. Two thirds of them are stationed in eastern Ukraine. Together with other international personnel and other Ukrainian colleges, we have 781 people in the mission, Hug said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

He said that on Friday he will visit eastern Ukraine to assess the security situation in the region.