The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has said it recorded over 450 explosions in Donetsk region.
”The SMM observed more ceasefire violations in Donetsk region, including over 450 explosions compared with 236 the day before. More than 350 explosions were recorded in areas to the north-east of Mariupol,” the OSCE SMM said in a daily update on October 18, which is based on information received as of 19:30 on October 17, 2016.
”In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations compared with the previous day, including eight explosions compared with 72 explosions on 16 October,” the report says.
It is also reported that the SMM continued to monitor the disengagement process and to pursue full access to the disengagement areas of Stanytsia Luhanska (16km north-east of Luhansk), Zolote (60km west of Luhansk) and Petrivske (41km south of Donetsk), as foreseen in the Framework Decision of the Trilateral Contact Group relating to disengagement of forces and hardware of 21 September.
”The Armed Forces and armed formations, obliged under the Decision to remove or fence off explosive objects and ensure safety and secure access for the SMM to the disengagement areas, have yet to complete this in any of the three areas. The Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC), tasked by the Decision of the Trilateral Contact Group on mine action of 3 March 2016 to carry out the overall co-ordination of demining work and repeatedly tasked to contribute to rapid response to impediments to monitoring by the SMM, was not observed doing so in any of the three areas. As a result SMM`s access remained restricted in all three areas, but the Mission was able to partially monitor them,” the report reads.
