Militants prevent OSCE monitors from getting to Kominternove twice on Jan 5
Observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission once again were denied access to the militant-occupied village of Kominternove, Volnovakha, Donetsk region, on Tuesday, January 5.
"At the last Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint at the south-western entrance to the village, the checkpoint commander told the SMM that about 15 vehicles were "travelling back and forth per day". The SMM saw one civilian vehicle entering the village. In the vicinity of the checkpoint, the SMM observed approximately ten anti-tank mines, tied together by wire, placed along a side-track of the road. The SMM could not reach the village from the east and south, as armed "DPR" members denied the SMM access to the village," the OSCE SMM said in its report as of January 5 published on its website on January 6.
According to it, militants didn't let the OSCE SMM monitors to enter Kominternove twice on Tuesday: once at a checkpoint near 'DPR'-controlled village of Zaichenko (4km east of Kominternove), without giving any explanation, and the second time armed men again denied the SMM passage to the village at a "DPR" checkpoint near the south-western entrance to Kominternove.
The OSCE stressed that the SMM continues to face restrictions in fulfilling its monitoring functions in Donbas. In particular, in addition to two incidents near Kominternove, militants on Tuesday twice restricted the movement of monitor: once in Debaltseve, Donetsk region, and in the town of Komsomolsk, which is subordinated to Sverdlovsk city council, Luhansk region.
In Donetsk region, the SMM observed a small number of ceasefire violations, most of which were recorded around Donetsk airport. In Luhansk region, the SMM registered mortar shelling, the report says.
"The SMM observed relative calm with a small number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region. Positioned at the Donetsk railway station (6km north-west of Donetsk city centre), the SMM heard a total of four undetermined explosions and three bursts of small-arms fire at locations 5-8km east and north-west of its position. Whilst in government-controlled Pryazovske (14km north-west of Mariupol), the SMM recorded one undetermined explosion south-south-east of its position," the monitors reported.
"The overall situation in Luhansk region was relatively calm. Nonetheless, after two days of not observing ceasefire violations, the SMM recorded three incidents involving ceasefire violations, one of which consisted of 18 impacts approximately 3km south-west of its position, whilst at an "LPR" checkpoint near Sokilnyky (38km north-west of Luhansk). The SMM assessed the sound to be consistent with mortar shelling," the mission said.
The SMM also reported the creation of a self-defense force in the town of Kalanchak (96km south-east of Kherson). "The SMM met the head of the force and his deputy, who were elected by the members of the force, as well as another member (all men). According to the interlocutors, the recruitment process was on-going and currently there were 80 volunteers, they planned to register the organization and members would be unarmed. The interlocutors emphasized that they had no political agenda and assessed that the situation in the district had already improved compared to late December 2015," the report reads.