Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM), has acknowledged that the situation in the area of Donetsk, Horlivka and Mariupol in Donbas has worsened.

"Violence has surged in/around Donetsk city, Horlivka and areas north and east of Mariupol," the OSCE SMM Twitter quoted Apakan as saying to representatives of the OSCE member states in Vienna on Wednesday.

Apakan said also that OSCE monitors in Donbas "need secure environment, freedom of movement and co-operation to do their job."

He also expressed the hope that attacks on OSCE SMM members would not happen again.