OSCE: Six civilians killed, 42 wounded in Donbas year to date

During the first five months of 2020, six civilians were killed, another 42 were wounded, and 90 civilian objects were damaged in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.

"During the first five months of 2020, the SMM registered more than 91,000 ceasefire violations in Donbas, 48 civilian casualties, including six deaths, and damages to 90 civilian objects, including schools, houses, apartments, shops, as well as gas infrastructure facilities," Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk said during an online meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on Thursday, June 18, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

In addition, dozens of other reports of civilian casualties and damages to facilities are pending confirmation, as stated in the OSCE SMM weekly report of June 10.

"The Ukrainian military continue to defend their land from the illegal armed formations which are led, armed and financed by Russia. Just last week, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and 11 more were wounded on the contact line amid a 90% increase in ceasefire violations as it was recorded by the SMM. All these are direct results of the conflict unleashed by Russia, which has been going on for more than six years already," Tsymbaliuk said.

Ukraine wants the war in Donbas to continue not a single day, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna stressed. "Ukraine did not start this war. We want not a single day of its continuation. We are doing everything possible to stop this war peacefully by political and diplomatic means but, of course, without crossing such 'red lines' as Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he stressed.

According to the diplomat, Ukraine is actively seeking the ways of peaceful settlement within the Normandy format and the Minsk process, including by strengthening its representation in the Trilateral Contact Group. Instead, Russia continues to evade its responsibility as a party to the conflict, hiding behind its puppets in Donbas and making demands that cannot be met to accuse Ukraine of such a failure.

As reported, 26 civilians were killed and 140 more were wounded in Donbas in 2019.

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