JCCC: Separatists attempt to intimidate OSCE Observers
The Ukrainian representative of Joint Center on Control and Coordination for issues related to the ceasefire and the stabilization of the contact line, stated that Russian-backed separatists are trying to intimidate OSCE SMM observers.
“The shelling of OSCE representatives is nothing more than another attempt by the militants to intimidate the OSCE SMM observers and force them to abandon the practice of mirror patrolling proposed by the Ukrainian representatives in the JCCC,” the press-officer of the Center, Vasyl Laba, stated on the 10th of April.
Just prior, on the 9th of April, OSCE SMM observers reported that they came under fire during their visit to Zhovanka, a part of Zaitsevo, which is located near Horlivka and controlled by Ukrainian Government forces. Separatists haven’t commented on the incident.
On the morning of the April 10th, the Headquarters of the Ukrainian Forces reported on the escalation of the situation in the Donbas and the increasing frequency of Ukrainian positions being shelled by the separatists.
Separatists from both the DPR and the LPR accuse Ukrainian forces of initiating skirmishes as well. In January, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk discussed another ceasefire agreement in the war zone in eastern Ukraine beginning on the 14th of January. However, the parties to the conflict have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire since then.