OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine recorded around 150 explosions in the occupied Donbas in the period from February 19 to February 20, noting the decrease of ceasefire violations. This was stated in the report of the organization.
"In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, including about 100 explosions, compared with the previous reporting period (174 explosions). In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations, including 48 explosions, compared with the previous reporting period (92 explosions)," the message says.
The mission also recorded armoured combat vehicles, anti-aircraft installations and other signs of military presence in the security zone:
“Beyond withdrawal lines but outside designated storage sites in areas outside government control on 19 February, an SMM mini-UAV spotted a large number of weapons and other hardware 1km north-west of Shymshynivka: 11 tanks (a T-72 and ten T-64), as well as 20 armoured personnel carriers (APC) (MT-LB), including seven mounted with anti-craft guns (ZU-23), seven artillery command vehicles (a BTR-60PB and six 1VXX series) and 21 military-type trucks. (See SMM Daily Report 16 December 2017.),” the message says.
On 19 February, an SMM mini-UAV spotted a large number of weapons and other hardware near Myrne (28km south-west of Luhansk): 21 tanks, 12 towed howitzers, eight self-propelled howitzers, 15 mortars and six anti-tank guns, as well as 57 IFVs, 15 APCs, two armoured reconnaissance vehicles, two armoured recovery vehicles, two anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks, a trench digger, a mine-clearing vehicle and two mine-laying vehicles. On 20 February, the SMM saw five tanks near Myrne.
As it was reported earlier OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine recorded 643 explosions in Donbas in the period from 19:30 of February 16 to 19:30 of February 18.
On 18 February, the SMM saw freshly dug trenches extending for about 800m along a road 2.5km south of Krasnohorivka (government-controlled, 21km west of Donetsk). About 1.3km north-east of the north-eastern edge of the Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area, the SMM saw for the first time barbed wire blocking one of the lanes of road P-22.
