The OSCE monitoring mission noted, according to a report released on Monday, a worsening of the situation in Donetsk and Lugansk, the theater of the clashes between the Ukrainian Government Army and the pro-Russian insurgents
The situation regarding the security in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating, especially in the Donetsk Airport area and near the Peski and Gorlovka cities (Donetsk region). This is the conclusion of a report of the OSCE monitoring mission in the conflict zone, quoted by Interfax.
The OSCE monitoring mission noted, according to the report, a worsening of the situation in Donetsk and Lugansk, the theater of the clashes between the Ukrainian Government Army and the pro-Russian insurgents, where, on the 9th of December, a so-called “silent regime” started after the truce declared on the 5th of September by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was not respected by either party.
The report also highlights an increase in the opening of fire by both sides.
Thus, the Russian and Ukrainian representatives of the OSCE monitoring mission showed 38 shootings in the first two days of the New Year, with small weapons, artillery and multiple launch rocket systems near the Donetsk Airport and near the Peski and Gorlovka cities. Following the violence, a Ukrainian soldier was killed and seven others were injured in the battles for the control of the Donetsk Airport, the strategic point occupied by the Ukrainian army.
Meanwhile, three civilians lost their lives and three others were injured in Gorlovka, but the OSCE mission could not verify this information.
In the rebel camp, a spokesperson had earlier announced that the Government forces bombarded a Donetsk neighborhood in the past 24 hours, stressing the fact that civilians have died, but without indicating the number, according to RIA Novosti.
The situation is still tense in the city, said, in turn, Deputy Chief of Staff of the insurgents in Donbas, Eduard Basurin.
On this tense background, a meeting on the Ukraine crisis was announced on Monday in Berlin in the so-called “Normandy format” (Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany), at political directors’ level. The agenda includes the Minsk protocol and the ways to implement its provisions.