MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) to Ukraine has registered Saturday 152 explosions in the area around the Donetsk airport, the organization said in a report
“The situation at and around the destroyed 'Donetsk People’s Republic' ('DPR')-controlled Donetsk airport (12km north-west of Donetsk) remained volatile. The SMM – positioned at 'DPR'-controlled Donetsk railway station (8km north-west of Donetsk) – heard during the day 152 explosions in the area,” OSCE said on its official website.
The monitors also spotted military hardware “in and around” the nearby town of Komsomolske.
An OSCE monitoring mission was deployed to the region to observe the implementation of peace agreements that were hammered out in the Belarusian capital Minsk with mediation by Russia, France and Germany first in September 2014 and then in February 2015.
The Ukrainian crisis escalated in April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to suppress independence supporters of eastern Ukraine who refused to recognize a coup-imposed government.
According to the most recent UN estimates, the conflict has claimed almost 6,500 lives, and left more than 16,000 people injured.
