OSCE SMM observers continue observing heavy weapons not pulled back from the demarcation line, particularly, in the areas controlled by the so called LPR, and face obstruction to their work, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) Alexander Hug has said.

"Crater analysis conducted by the SMM showed that they had been fired at the government-controlled towns of Bohdanivka and Mykolaivka, both in Donetsk region. Aerial surveillance imagery available to the SMM actually revealed the presence of 47 multiple launch rocket systems in so called LPR-controlled Miusynsk last Friday," Hug said at a briefing in Kyiv.

He told there were just some of the proscribed weapons observed by the SMM in violation of respective withdrawal lines on both sides of the contact line.

"The number observed did in fact almost double compared to the previous week," he said.

Hug said it is that lack of trust that makes it impossible to do what is required to sustain long term cessation of violence.

"Without trust, each side fears the vacuum will be filled by the other," Hug said.

"It pains me to say this but the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has not lived up to its potential. The JCCC needs your support and your attention. The fact is: unfettered and unhindered access for the SMM does not exist. And once again, without it, there can be no verification. Or trust. So long as there is no trust, there will be no peace," Hug said.

Over the last week, the number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region remained largely unchanged compared to the previous week, with almost 1,800 explosions recorded there. Hug also noted that the mission has 706 monitors (of whom 578 are deployed in the east).