KIEV (Sputnik) — In January, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that he had discussed with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz, who is also the OSCE chairman, the necessity of enhancing the OSCE SMM in Ukraine both in technical support and personnel.
"We support the plans of the OSCE SMM to provide their monitors with additional equipment and deployment of the observation posts on the occupied territories of Donbas," Muzhenko said at a meeting with OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan.
The eastern part of Ukraine, including the Luhansk region, has been in turmoil since April 2014, when Kiev authorities launched a military operation against local militia in Donbas. In February 2015, the two sides reached a ceasefire deal after talks brokered by the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine in Minsk. The SMM is tasked with overseeing the ceasefire and the implementation of the agreement.
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
