The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) said it recorded shooting at the time the monitors discovered weapons banned by the Minsk agreements in the separatist-held territories in Donetsk Oblast.
On Feb. 12, while observing a camouflaged tank in separatists-controlled Pikuzy, the SMM heard 15-20 shots of small-arms fire 50-100m from the SMM’s position near the tank, the mission said in a report. “The SMM assessed the shots not to be directed at the SMM but to be warning shots. The SMM left the area immediately,” the mission added.
The patrol also saw a self-propelled howitzer (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) in Donetsk.
In addition to the howitzer, the observers saw a warehouse between the Kirovsky and Petrovsky districts of Donetsk city with other heavy weapons inside that could not be identified because armed separatists prevented the SMM from accessing the site. “The SMM assessed two sets of tracks leading to the warehouse as those of a self-propelled howitzer (2S1) and either a tank or self-propelled howitzer (2S3 Akatsiya, 152mm),” the report said.
