Monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have said that they are continuing to observe the presence of heavy weapons along the contact line in Donbas, OSCE SMM Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug has said.

"There is the constant presence of heavy weapons in the area that is considered to be safe territory. On October 19 the SMM's UAVs spotted two tanks in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)-controlled village of Bezimenne [at the coast of the Sea of Azov in Donetsk region] and 25 tanks near the DPR-controlled village of Sontseve [Starobeshivsky district, Donetsk region]. On October 20, 2015, a UAV spotted the relocation of a camouflaged artillery system in the Ukrainian-controlled village of Hranitne," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

Hug also said that heavy equipment previously withdrawn to permanent storage sites is now missing

"On October 25, we observed the absence of heavy weapons at permanent storage sites. In particular, these were 12 tanks in Ukrainian-controlled territory and two Grad multiple rocket launchers in DPR-controlled territory," he added.