A declaration passed by the OSCE Permanent Council on April 27, 2017 is deprived of important elements for safe operation of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine due to destructive work of the Russian delegation.

According to comments of the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, on April 27, 2017 the OSCE Permanent Council passed the declaration of support for the SMM to Ukraine following the tragic incident in eastern Ukraine on April 23, in which an SMM patrol member was killed in the line of duty by an explosion. According to the declaration, the SMM mandate requires it to have safe and secure access throughout Ukraine and called for this to be fully respected. The Council expressed its sorrow and offered deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased patrol member.

"Due to the traditionally destructive position of the Russian delegation the approved documents is unfortunately deprived of important elements for safe work of the SMM – all-side condemnation of any threats and attacks against OSCE SMM monitors and the deliberate creation of obstacles in carrying out their mission, including the restricted access to the temporarily Ukraine uncontrolled territories," the press service said.

The Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine will continue supporting OSCE SMM in its mission.

The ministry said that at the meeting of the UN Security Council on April 27 Russia was the only country opposing the draft statement of the UN Security Council for mass media proposed by Ukraine and the United States.

"All attempts of the Ukrainian delegation to find a compromise constantly faced total disregard by Russia, which chose the delaying tactics and making unconstructive edits in advance," the ministry said.