OSCE Ukraine Mission to Visit Area of Planned Disengagement of Forces in Donbass

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) to Ukraine is set to visit the area of the planned disengagement of forces in the war-plagued Donbass region on Monday.

LUHANSK (Sputnik) — Alexander Hug, deputy director of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine and other observers will visit the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska on Monday, the mission said in a statement.

"On Monday, 7 August, Principle Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Alexander Hug together with other SMM monitors will conduct a patrol to Shchastia and Stanytsia Luhanska area," the statement said.

In September 2016, sides to the conflict in eastern Ukraine signed a framework agreement on the withdrawal of forces at three locations along the line of contact. As of now the disengagement of forces has been carried out only in the two locations — Zolote in Luhansk Region and Petrovske in the Donetsk Region. The disengagement of troops in Stanytsia Luhanska has repeatedly been postponed.

In April 2014, Kiev authorities launched a military operation against pro-independence militia in the eastern Ukraine's Donbass region. In February 2015, the two sides reached a ceasefire deal in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and constitutional reforms, which would give a special status to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. Both sides of the conflict, however, are constantly accusing each other of violations of the agreement.

The OSCE SMM has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Minsk deal provisions on settling the conflict between Kiev and the pro-independence militias in the country's east.