"Ukrainian armed forces continue to position themselves near towns and villages while armed groups have embedded deeper into residential areas, further endangering the local population. The risk of re-escalation of hostilities therefore remained high," the OHCHR said in its 13th report on the human rights situation in Ukraine.
The report covers the period between November 16, 2015 and February 15, 2016. According to an OHCHR press release, the report focuses on how the conflict impacts people living close to the "contact line" between government troops and the Donbas militias.
The report also notes the the ceasefire had been violated multiple times in certain flashpoints on the contact line, as well as in the cities of Donetsk and Horlivka. While the violations mostly involved light and small-caliber weapons, the presence of heavy weapons, tanks and artillery systems was reported on both sides of the contact line, according to the report.
"The ceasefire in eastern Ukraine remains tenuous, with reported violations of the ceasefire, the continued occurrences of indiscriminate shelling and the presence of anti-personnel mines and remnants of war," the OHCHR said in the press release.
Kiev authorities launched a military operation against militias in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April 2014. In February 2015, Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire deal later signed by Kiev and the Donbas militia.
