LUHANSK – The number of ceasefire violations in Donbas has increased over the week, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) in Ukraine Alexander Hug said at a press briefing in Luhansk.
The ceasefire did not improve in the past week. Rather, the SMM recorded a 55 percent increase in the number of ceasefire violations compared with the previous week, Hug told reporters on August 7. The tendency had the most impact on the territory between Pervomaisk and Popasna, where 20 percent of the aforementioned ceasefire violations took place, he said.
The Donbas conflicting parties kept on firing weapons prohibited under the Minsk Agreements, he said.
The SMM recorded more than 550 instances where heavy weapons and those prohibited under the Minsk accords were used. The prohibited weapons include tanks, mortars and artillery systems, Hug said.
The escalation and ceasefire violations in the area between Popasna and Pervomaisk, and in another four hotspots are making an impact on the civilian population, Hug added.
