AVDIIVKA (Sputnik) — In particular, observers registered at least 547 cases of using multiple-launch pocket systems (MLRS), artillery and mortars. A week earlier, SMM registered just 137 such cases, Hug said.
"Last week, we saw increase in the level of violence along the contact line. The number of ceasefire violations recorded by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission rose by 55 percent in comparison with the previous week," Hug said.
The OSCE SMM to Ukraine was deployed in March 2014 to observe and report on the situation in the country, which has been mired in a conflict between Donbas militias and Kiev that has already claimed the lives of some 10,000 people, according to recent UN estimates.
In February 2015, the warring parties to the Ukrainian conflict in Donbass signed the Minsk peace accords, brokered by the Normandy Four, in order to cease fire in the crisis-torn region. The truce, however, has been repeatedly breached, with Kiev forces and Donbas militia accusing each other of violating it.
