The reduction in the number of shelling in Donbas during the 'school truce' was temporary and now the parties have moved back to where they were, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Deputy Chief Monitor in Ukraine Alexander Hug said.

Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday, he said an announcement to the whole world about the truce should be observed.

Hug said on the first day of the ceasefire - last Friday, August 25, the SMM recorded a 53% decrease in the number of violations (from 654 to just over 300); on Saturday, August 26, there were 47 violations of the "silence regime."

This pause shows that the parties can indeed stop the violence when they want it, which can be the starting point for establishing a long-term truce, the deputy chief monitor said.

At the same time, according to him, since August 27, the number of violations of the ceasefire has begun to grow again: there were 151 violations on August 27, 173 violations on August 28, 431 violations on August 29, and 186 violations on Wednesday. Now, the matter are back to where they were before the truce, he said.

Hug noted that this week the OSCE SMM registered 112 heavy weapons placed in violation of the agreed disengagement lines, 47 in the areas controlled by the government of Ukraine, and 65 in the uncontrolled areas.