Weekly digest by the delegation of Ukraine to the OSCE, 10 – 16 April 2020

Developments related to the ongoing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and illegal occupation of Crimea

Executive summary:

20 Ukrainian citizens were released from the temporarily occupied parts of Donbas on 16 April, on the eve of Orthodox Easter.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the frontline positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during a working trip to the area of the Joint Forces Operation. In particular, he visited the disengagement area № 3 “Petrivske”. The Head of State got himself acquainted with the operational situation in this area.

Ukraine demands from the Russian Federation as an occupying Power to protect life and health of the population of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as the Russia’s ongoing armed aggression makes it impossible for the Ukrainian side to provide assistance to the population of the temporarily occupied territories directly.

Russia-imposed restrictions of access for the SMM patrols, in particular at checkpoints of the Russian armed formations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions along official crossing routes, continue to prevent the SMM from conducting a comprehensive monitoring of security situation in Donbas. This violates the SMM’s mandate adopted by the participating States and must be stopped by Russia immediately.

Russian occupation forces kept firing at Ukraine’s Joint Forces’ positions, continuously violating the ceasefire. They fired upon Ukrainian troops’ strongholds from antitank missile systems, weapons mounted on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms.

For the period of 9–15 April, the Russian occupation forces unleashed fire against the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on 66 occasions, including with the use of 120- and 82-mm mortars and 122-mm artillery systems, which are prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Antitank missile systems, infantry fighting vehicles, different grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, other small arms were also widely used by the occupation forces. As a result of these acts of aggression, 10 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded and 2 killed. Ukrainian Armed Forces opened adequate fire in response to the armed provocations to save the lives of civilians and Ukrainian servicemen.

According to the SMM reports, violations of the disengagement of forces and hardware in the agreed areas in the Donbas region of Ukraine by the armed formations of the Russian Federation continued.

Russian proxies in Donbas continued their practice of planting anti-personnel landmines, violating the norms of international humanitarian law, further exposing civilians to heightened risks. 

Thursday, 9 April

According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Russian occupation forces shelled the residential areas on the outskirts of Hutir Vilnyi settlement with the use of 82mm mortars, automatic grenade launchers, endangering the lives of civilians and their property. On 9 April, a grenade from AGS-17 grenade launcher exploded in a yard of a local resident. Shrapnel from the grenade damaged windows and the roof of the house.

On 8 April, while positioned in the temporarily occupied Raivka (16km north-west of Luhansk) to conduct a mini-UAV flight, the SMM observed a non-SMM UAV flying at an altitude of about 70m over its position for around three minutes. The Mission left the area and had to abort an SMM mini-UAV flight due to the presence of a non-SMM UAV flying over its position (SMM daily report of 9 April). Given daily severe restrictions of the SMM’s freedom of movement on the ground by the armed formations of the Russian Federation, such actions significantly impede the ability of the SMM to observe the situation in the temporarily occupied areas. 

The SMM UAV again spotted 55 anti-tank mines of the armed formations of the Russian Federation laid in fields south of the railway tracks east and west of road T-1316, in the disengagement area near Zolote. This is a clear violation of the TCG Framework decision on disengagement of forces and hardware of 2016 (SMM daily report of 10 April).

Friday, 10 April:

On 8 April, in a field about 2km north of Petrivske, an SMM mini-UAV spotted for the first time six anti-personnel mines (PMN-2; five of which probable) of the armed formations of the Russian Federation (SMM daily report of 11 April). We express our strong condemnation and indignation over the use by the Russian occupation forces of APLs. These indiscriminate instruments of war mainly kill or maim mostly innocent and defenceless civilians. We once again renew our call on the Russian Federation to remove all APLs as well as other types of mines and explosives, which its armed formations planted on the temporarily occupied territories or, what would be a more efficient way, to immediately de-occupy these territories and let Ukraine carry out the demining of these areas. Such a constructive approach, when followed by Russia, would save the lives and prevent further casualties among civilians. 

In order to prevent crossings by civilians and SMM patrols of the contact line in Donbas, the Russian armed formations planted three anti-tank mines on a road near the checkpoint west of Verkhnoshyrokivske and refused to remove them for the SMM (SMM daily report of 10 April). Later, an SMM patrol faced similar mine impediment while attempting to cross a checkpoint near Horlivka on 14 April. The deliberate use of mines against civilians and civilian unarmed monitors is unacceptable. We call on participating States to continue their pressure on Russia to implement its own commitments under the Minsk agreements, including demining.

Saturday, 11 April:

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid working trip to the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The Head of Ukrainian State got himself acquainted with the operational situation in the Sea of Azov (in particular, examined the territory of the Berdyansk Sea Commercial Port, where in 2020–2021 it is planned to create infrastructure for the “East” naval base of the Ukrainian Naval Forces), and visited the frontline positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including Petrivske disengagement area. President Zelenskyy stressed in particular that the disengagement of forces had facilitated the reduction of shellings, while the work to agree upon new disengagement areas continues.

On April 11 Russia’s proxies fired from Minsk-proscribed 122-mm artillery, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars as well as from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms.

Tuesday, 14 April:

CiO Special Representative in Ukraine and the Trilateral Contact Group Heidi Grau informed that the TCG Working Group on humanitarian issues concerted the details of a mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees. We continue to appreciate mediation efforts of the OSCE to facilitate negotiations within the TCG between Ukraine and Russia as parties to the conflict.

In its weekly report 15/2020 for 6–12 April, the SMM confirmed the ongoing restrictions imposed by the armed formations and occupation administrations of the Russian Federation in communicating with the local population, including by phone, in particular in the temporarily occupied Horlivka. This ongoing practice of silencing the civilians is unacceptable and points to further repressions and intimidation of the local population with an attempt to hide the violations on the ground. According to the weekly report, the Mission also observed the presence of the armed formations of the Russian Federation in the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska and Zolote, as well as forbidden mines in the latter one, which constitute clear violations of the respective TCG decision of 2016 on disengagement. 

Wednesday, 15 April:

All Minsk-proscribed weapons in Russia-occupied parts of Donbas, registered by the SMM in its weekly report, were again observed solely with the use of aerial technical assets available at disposal of the Mission. All but one active restrictions of the SMM’s freedom of movement took place in the temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The inability of the SMM to conduct a comprehensive unhindered ground patrolling in those areas of Donbas, as a result of the artificial restrictions imposed by the Russian occupation authorities, continues to undermine the SMM’s monitoring capacities, which violates its mandate adopted by the participating States. Russia must cease these restrictions immediately.

The security situation in Donbas, according to the SMM weekly report, has slightly improved: the Mission recorded a decrease in the number of ceasefire violations by approximately one third (compared with the previous week), and, for the second week in a row, no ceasefire violations attributable to the use of weapons that should have been withdrawn according to the Minsk agreements.

Ukraine demands from the Russian Federation as an occupying Power to protect life and health of the population of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Russia’s ongoing armed aggression makes it impossible for the Ukrainian side to provide assistance to the population of the temporarily occupied territories directly. In the context of the spread of acute respiratory disease COVID-19, the MFA of Ukraine expressed concern about the state of protection of life and health of the population of the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine demands from the Russian Federation to provide on permanent basis exhaustive information on the spread of coronavirus disease on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and on measures it undertakes to assist the population of these territories to cope with the pandemic. The MFA of Ukraine also calls on the Russian Federation to fully guarantee the right to life and access to healthcare for illegally detained Ukrainians, to provide full and comprehensive access for the international monitoring missions and ICRC representatives, as well as medical workers to the population of the temporarily occupied territories to provide qualified medical examination, treatment, and humanitarian assistance. Ukraine calls on the international community to ensure unblocking of the access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia for provision of such assistance.

Thursday, 16 April:

Another stage of mutual release of conflict-related detained persons within the “all for all” format was completed on 16 April. Twenty Ukrainian citizens were set free from the temporarily occupied parts of Donbas. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the negotiations on the release of those detained in the occupied Crimea and in Russia are ongoing.