Donbas sees over 300,000 attacks in 2017 - OSCE

14:51, 13.10.2017 1 min read

Donbas has seen over 313,000 attacks, mostly from heavy weapons that remain on the contact line, since the beginning of this year, Alexander Hug, the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Donbas, said from the Donetsk region during a press briefing on Skype on Friday.

There seem to be two parts of Donbas, Hug said. One of those parts is honoring the truce, the sides have agreed to clear or at least mark mines, observers have access to every area, and security is ensured, while in the other part of Donbas, observers have seen 313,332 ceasefire breaches since the beginning of this year, including about 200,000 breaches by means of heavy weapons stationed in prohibited areas, Hug said.

Observers have recorded about 3,500 cases of the unlawful deployment of heavy weapons by the two sides since January of this year.

The hostilities have inflicted 398 civilian casualties, including 327 injuries, since the beginning of the year, Hug said.