OSCE Detects Dozens of Military Trucks in Eastern Ukraine
KYIV – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, Monday said it had seen two convoys with 17 military trucks each in areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in troubled eastern Ukraine.
The trucks “included artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems”, the OSCE said in a statement.
OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, or SMM, detected the convoys on Sunday.
The OSCE mission is in eastern Ukraine to observe the commitment of Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists to the cease-fire agreed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on September 5.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has left more than 4,000 dead since it began last April.
Attacks intensified last week after elections held by the separatists in areas they control in Lugansk and Donetsk, which were not recognized by Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military command announced Monday that the separatist militias attacked Kyiv forces 13 times late Sunday.
The statement issued by the command asserted that the Ukrainian forces still control Donetsk airport, the scene of severe clashes in the past months.
Donetsk, where one million people lived before hostilities broke out, is the separatists’ main stronghold.
The separatists Monday said Ukrainian forces had attacked the surroundings of the airport with artillery fire on Sunday.