Fighting continued in Donbas during the New Year and Christmas holidays, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Principal Deputy Chief Monitor in Ukraine Alexander Hug said.

SMM monitors recorded ceasefire violations in all of the 'hot spots' on January 7, Hug said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday. In particular, 40 explosions of projectiles fired with grenade launchers, two explosions in the air and 56 explosions of unknown origin were recorded near the populated localities of Hnutove and Pyschevyk.

All in all, monitors recorded 336 ceasefire breaches from January 2 to January 8, 2017, Hug said, adding that half of them occurred in the Svitlodarsk area.

Truce breaches were also reported near Mariupol, Horlivka and at the Avdiyivka-Yasynuvata-Donetsk airport sector, he said.