OSCE: More than 400 civilians killed or injured in Donbas in 2017, ceasefire violations exceed 325,000

More than 400 civilians killed or injured in the combat zone in Donbas in 2017, Alexander Hug, the principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, said.

"Last week the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine recorded 5,892 ceasefire violations. That brings the total so far this year to over 325,000 ceasefire violations. Almost 27,000 of those ceasefire violations were caused by proscribed weapons - weapons that should have been withdrawn beyond the lines agreed by the sides in Minsk a long time ago," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

Observers recorded 48 pieces of such weapons, 31 in areas controlled by the Ukrainian government and 17 in areas outside its control, in the past week, he said. Over 3,800 pieces of heavy weapons deployed in violation of separation lines, with more than two thirds of them being in territories beyond Ukraine's control, were recorded this year, Hug said.

Instead of implementing the Minsk agreements, the parties pretend to do that and focus on arguments regarding what should be implemented in the first place, Hug said.

A total of 2,000 instances of restriction of the OSCE SMM's movement have been recorded this year, Hug said. Mostly they are related to failure in demining of territories or restrictions imposed by servicemen or "armed persons," totaling over 700 times, with the majority of them by the latter.

Observers have faced this most often in areas outside Ukraine's control, near the uncontrolled sections of the border with the Russian Federation, he said.