OSCE mission visits Kyiv-controlled Donbas communities shelled by militants
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) visited a number of communities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Kyiv on Monday to assess the aftermath of shelling with the use of heavy weapons, which were to be pulled back in line with the Minsk agreements.
"In government-controlled Dzerzhynsk (58km north of Donetsk) the SMM visited three sites shelled on August 8, based on a report from a Ukrainian Armed Forces representative at the JCCC [Joint Ceasefire Control Center] in Dzerzhynsk. The SMM conducted crater analysis and concluded that they had been caused by 152mm caliber artillery from a south-south-easterly direction," the SMM said in a report as of August 10, which was published on Tuesday evening.
The SMM heard four incoming mortar rounds and two bursts of machine-gun fire between 10:35 a.m. and 10:55 a.m., it said.
The SMM also heard sporadic small and light weapon (SALW) fire in government-controlled Sopyne (16 kilometers east of Mariupol), which is 4 kilometers northeast of its position, at 08:00 a.m.
"Later at 09:58hrs, the SMM heard one undetermined explosion in the area of Shyrokyne," it said.
The SMM also visited government-controlled Lebedynske (16 kilometers east of Mariupol and slightly north of Sopyne), where a local resident informed the monitors of August 9 shelling.
"The SMM analyzed three out of ten craters at the outskirts of the village and concluded that they were caused by 120mm mortars fired from an easterly direction," it said.
An SMM patrol deployed in Lebedynske also heard a total of 22 explosions east of its position and a round of heavy-machine gun fire and one burst of a 33mm anti-aircraft gun between 2:28 p.m. and 3:11 p.m. Monday.
"In government-controlled Vodiane (24km north of Mariupol), at 17:05hrs, the SMM heard sounds consistent with SALW fire in the distance to the east of its position," it said.
The SMM also heard 10 artillery bursts in Triokhizbenka (33 kilometers northwest of Luhansk).
"In government-controlled Troitske (69km west of Luhansk) the SMM followed up on information from a Ukrainian Armed Forces officer about alleged shelling on August 9. At two sites, the SMM analyzed a total of eight craters and assessed them to have been caused by artillery gun (122mm) fire originating from the east and north-east," it said.
OSCE monitors also visited Stanytsia Luhanska, where an officer of the Ukrainian armed forces at the JCCC "showed the SMM a crater which he said was a result of shelling during the night of August 8. The SMM analyzed the crater and assessed it to have been caused by 120mm mortar from a south-westerly direction," the report says.