Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitors will not conduct their own investigation into the recent shelling of a passenger bus near Volnovakha, eastern Ukraine, the press service of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) told Interfax.

The SMM does not conduct its own investigations, but only monitors the situation in these regions of Ukraine, OSCE SMM spokesperson Iryna Gudyma said.

The results the mission's monitoring, should they prove important, may be used in different inquiries, she said.

The deputy chief of the OSCE special monitoring mission (OSCE SMM) in eastern Ukraine, Alexander Hug, confirmed the creation of a joint body that would investigate the shelling of a passenger bus near Volnovakha.

The SMM has proposed that the concerned parties set up a joint body that will include representatives from the joint center for control and coordination from Ukraine, Russia and the Donetsk People's Republic, who will conduct a joint independent inquiry into the incident, he said at a press briefing in Donetsk on Wednesday.

According to the latest reports, 12 people were killed and another 18 were injured in the bus attack. The Ukrainian forces and militias have blamed each other for the tragedy.

Interfax learned about the group earlier from a source in the DPR government.

The SMM will be monitoring the independent inquiry and report its results, Hug said.

The SMM will support and monitor this joint inquiry into the Volnovakha incident, he said.

OSCE monitors visited both the scene of the tragedy and the victims in hospitals, he added.