OSCE records spike in number of ceasefire violations in Luhansk region

The OSCE SMM said this in a report issued on February 19, based on information from the monitoring teams received as of 19:30 on February 18, 2020.

“In Luhansk region, starting at about 05:30 and continuing for about six hours, the SMM recorded a spike in ceasefire violations (including more than 2,500 explosions), compared with the previous reporting period (13 explosions),” the report reads.

The majority of ceasefire violations, including the majority of explosions (of which about 270 were assessed as artillery rounds), were recorded in areas along the contact line between Popasna (government-controlled, 69km west of Luhansk), Pervomaisk (non-government-controlled, 58km west of Luhansk), Muratove (government-controlled, 51km north-west of Luhansk) and Krymske (government-controlled, 42km northwest of Luhansk), including Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk) and the disengagement area near it, as well as Hirske (government-controlled, 63km west of Luhansk).

“In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, including, however, a similar number of explosions (about 115), compared with the previous reporting period (about 105 explosions),” the report notes.

The majority of ceasefire violations, including more than half of the explosions, were recorded at southerly directions of Svitlodarsk (government-controlled, 57km north-east of Donetsk), as well as in areas south-east of Pyshchevyk (government-controlled, 84km south of Donetsk) and south-east of Horlivka (non-government-controlled, 39km north-east of Donetsk).

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