Kiev says OSCE to monitor ceasefire in east Ukraine
Kiev says the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has agreed to send observers to monitor the truce in Ukraine’s eastern areas still witnessing clashes between pro-Russians and government troops.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian government announced that the leaders of Russia, Germany and France had agreed on Kiev’s suggestion “to send monitors to all locations of ceasefire violations.
A statement by the four leaders said the OSCE would start with monitoring 10 flashpoint areas, including the Donetsk airport area which has been under the control of pro-Russia forces since January.
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said the leaders had “agreed that the OSCE should play a more important role in monitoring the ceasefire and the withdrawal of weapons.”
According to Ukrainian military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, at least three soldiers have been killed and nine others wounded in violence over the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also said the situation in eastern Ukraine remained “very difficult and tense” despite the truce.
Earlier in the day, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) announced that the pro-Russians in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk were pulling out their heavy weapons as part of the ceasefire deal.
Both Ukrainian army soldiers and pro-Russian forces have accused the other side of violating the Minsk deal, which was signed after talks in the Belarusian capital city on February 11-12.
During the negotiations, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Ukraine’s frontlines and a ceasefire, which officially went into effect on February 14. The warring sides, however, have continued to engage in sporadic clashes.
The two mainly Russian-speaking eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have been hit by deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush pro-Russia protests there.
More than 5,800 people have died in the conflict, the United Nations says. Around 1.5 million people have been also forced from their homes over the past months of the turmoil.
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