The number of civilians killed as a result of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in August 2021 was 11, since then the number of ceasefire violations has increased by almost a third, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Mikko Kinnunen.

"The security situation along the contact line remains volatile with an average of 273 cease-fire violations per day reported by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) during the first two weeks of September 2021, an increase of about 30% compared to the month of August. I particularly deplore the rising number of civilian casualties, namely 11 in the month of August, the highest number of monthly civilian casualties since the entering into force of the July 2020 agreement on strengthening the ceasefire," Kinnunen said in a statement following the Wednesday's TCG meeting.

According to him, the participants in the Security Working Group continued working on the draft Addendum to agreement on strengthening ceasefire, however, disagreements over the nature of the possible new coordination and verification mechanism remained. The Political Working Group discussed issues related to the elaboration of a draft action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements. Participants in the Economic Working Group engaged in a detailed discussion on different aspects of water supply to certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

According to Kinnunen, the meeting of the Humanitarian Working Group could not take place as the controversy over a recent expert appointment was not yet solved. "The issues of vital importance to population on both sides of contact line, such as the opening of new crossing points and the mutual exchange of conflict-related detainees could not be discussed," he said in the statement.