OSCE Mission Reports Shelling in Ukraine’s Donetsk Despite Ceasefire

VIENNA (Sputnik) — The SMM is monitoring the situation in the zone of conflict between Kiev forces and independence supporters of southeast Ukraine and overseeing adherence to the February 15 ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact.

According to the OSCE observers, fresh craters were detected on May 11 in Ukraine's southeastern village of Shirokino in Donetsk Region caused by an 82mm mortar. On April 29, a mortar round killed a 47-year-old man, the report said, citing the local residents.

Numerous fresh craters, one just meters from the SMM post, were found around Ukraine's government-controlled Berdianske village, 1.5km (1 mile) west of Shirokino. Other eight craters were caused by 122mm artillery rounds, with further two caused by 152mm artillery rounds, the report read.

The situation in self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic was "relatively calm" except for two "limited" shelling, according to the report.

Shirokino was considered a neutral territory in the internal armed conflict which started April 2014, before it was occupied by Kiev forces in the beginning of February.

On February 12, after 16-hour talks between the leaders of Russia, Germany France and Ukraine, Kiev and self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) signed a peace deal in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

Apart from a full ceasefire, the deal stipulates the creation of a secure buffer zone in southeastern Ukraine through the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact, as well as all-for-all prisoner exchange.

The OSCE has been tasked with monitoring the situation in the conflict area, which remains tense, as both sides continue to accuse each other of violating the Minsk agreements.