DONETSK– Donetsk and Horlivka remain flash points in Donbas, OSCE SMM Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said.
“I would like to tell on the situation around Donetsk. The situation remains unpredictable. Only on Sunday we registered 181 explosions. Donetsk and Horlivka still are flash points,” Hug said at a briefing in Donetsk on Dec. 8.
He reported that OSCE SMM suggested the sides to coordinate a process of mine clearing of the territory of Shyrokyne near Mariupol.
“As soon as representatives of Donetsk People’s Republic and Armed Forces reach the agreement on mine clearing, OSCE will provide assistance. But the parties failed to reach the agreement,” Hug said.
He expressed concern over an increased number of shell attacks and a number of the military hardware that gives concern. We’ll continue to fix such facts and this, in addition to other things, should help the local population to understand what may threaten their lives,” Hug said when being asked to comment on the situation occurred in the village of Zaitseve in Horlivka, where a number of the shell attacks recently grew.
The OSCE SMM deputy chief said that self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic up to now hasn’t provided a list of withdrawn weapons to OSCE, and added that there are certain difficulties in over arms withdrawal with a caliber at least 100mm.
“According to the addendum concerning the withdrawal of tanks and armament of small caliber, we saw definite divergences with what we were told by the sides and which types of armament were really brought to the permanent posts. A verification process is long and it doesn’t have a final date,” Hug said.
