Chief OSCE Monitor Calls for Restraint in Donbas After Bus Attack

© REUTERS / Nikolai RyabchenkoInvestigators work at the site were a passenger bus was damaged by shelling, at a checkpoint of the Ukrainian forces in the village of Bugas, near the town of Volnovakha in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine
Investigators work at the site were a passenger bus was damaged by shelling, at a checkpoint of the Ukrainian forces in the village of Bugas, near the town of Volnovakha in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine - Sputnik International
Subscribe
According to a statement of the OSCE, the Chief of the SMM "called upon all sides of the Ukrainian conflict to exercise maximum restraint in eastern Ukraine", emphasizing that the situation in the region has "significantly deteriorated".

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf - Sputnik International
US Concerned Over Uptick in Violence in Eastern Ukraine: State Department
DONETSK, January 14 (Sputnik) – The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, has called for an immediate de-escalation in the country's crisis-hit eastern regions (Donbas), where a recent attack on a bus resulted in the death of 11 people.

According to a statement released by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Tuesday, Apakan "called upon all sides [to the Ukrainian conflict] to exercise maximum restraint in eastern Ukraine" emphasizing that the situation in the region has "significantly deteriorated".

On Tuesday, 11 people were killed and at least 17 others were injured when a bus was attacked close to a Ukrainian military checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha in the eastern Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Tuesday he will sign a decree, authorizing a new wave of mobilization in the crisis-hit country on January 14, according to a post on his official website. - Sputnik International
Ukrainian President to Sign Decree on New Wave of Mobilization on Jan. 14

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in the Donetsk region, Vyacheslav Ambroskin, said that the bus was shelled from the direction of a town where local independence fighters were present at the time.

The UN Security Council condemned the attack and called for an investigation into the incident in a press release, issued Tuesday.

Ukrainian forces launched a military operation in the country's southeastern regions last spring, after local independence supporters refused to recognize then new coup-installed government. A ceasefire agreement was reached between the two sides in September.

OSCE monitors have been deployed in southeastern Ukraine since March and have been closely watching the situation in the conflict regions, where numerous ceasefire violations have been reported.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала