MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) deployed in Ukraine has detected sporadic and continuous shelling around the southeastern village of Shirokino, the observers said in a spot report.
"On 26 April, the SMM observed what it assessed to be the most intense shelling in Shirokino (20km east of Mariupol) since fighting began in the area in mid-February 2015," the Sunday spot report said.
According to OSCE monitors, the exchanges of fire involved small arms, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and automatic grenade launchers.
Shirokino (Shyrokyne) is a village located in Ukraine's southeastern region of Donetsk. It was considered neutral territory in the internal armed conflict which started in the area in April, 2014, before it was occupied by Kiev forces at the beginning of February.
On February 12, after 16-hour talks between the leaders of Russia, Germany France and Ukraine, Kiev forces and independence fighters of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) signed a breakthrough peace deal in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
The OSCE has been tasked with monitoring the situation in southeastern Ukraine, which remains tense, as both sides continue to accuse each other of violating the Minsk agreements.
