Heavy weapons, including artillery systems, banned by the Minsk agreements and required to be withdrawn from the Donbas contact line, continue to be used on both sides of the frontline, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said.

He told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday that the monitors were unable to observe movement of forces in particular sectors, including the vicinity of Svitlodarsk, because the conflicting sides had cut them off from the relocation zones.

Hug said they still had drones and surveillance cameras now that the patrolling options had been limited. A drone flying over the DPR-held town of Novohryhorivka near Debaltseve saw a battery of five self-propelled howitzers, which the OSCE monitors saw firing 31 shots, he said.

The monitors observed mortars transported by military trucks to the west in the Kyiv-held town of Karlivka near Donetsk, Hug said.

The monitors are working 24/7 in the conflict zone, and technical gadgets are used for monitoring purposes at nighttime, he said.

As of today, the mission employs 688 observers, including 590 working in Eastern Ukraine, Hug said.