Number of cases of use of proscribed weapons in eastern Ukraine grows by nine times - Hug

Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) Alexander Hug said this during a weekly briefing via Skype on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Last week, the OSCE SMM observed a 10% increase in the number of ceasefire violations. Last week, we counted 4,827 ceasefire violations. Last week, the OSCE SMM observed an almost nine-fold increase in instances where weapons proscribed under the Minsk agreements were used," he said.

In addition, Hug noted the futility of the mission's attempts to urge the parties to eliminate the causes of violence in eastern Ukraine and to disengage.

"Last week, we noticed, for instance, the presence of 144 weapons that should have been withdrawn beyond agreed withdrawal lines - 49 in government-controlled and 95 in areas outside government control. We observed violations of the disengagement agreement, and we observed mines. Soon, with vegetation growing quickly, these mines and thousands of others littered across the contact line will no longer be visible. In the absence of making these mines visible through marking or fencing, which the sides have promised they will do, these weapons will claim even more innocent lives," he said.

Hug also said that last week, the SMM confirmed data on 11 wounded persons and dozens of damaged private houses and apartment buildings.

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