OSCE to Continue Indepdendent Probes in Light of East Ukraine Bus Attack

Commenting on the results of the OSCE's probe into the bus attack in eastern Ukraine, Russian ambassador to the OSCE said they contradicted Kiev's claims that the bus had been hit by local militia.

MOSCOW, January 18 (Sputnik) — After publishing its report on the eastern Ukraine's Volnovakha village bus attack, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) hopes to continue conducting independent investigations into further incidents, Russia's ambassador to the OSCE said on Sunday.

"Theoretically speaking, this is not the function of the organization. However, the fact that it was involved and has come to objective conclusions I believe is important. We will try to proceed with the practice further," Andrei Kelin told Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine released on Saturday its conclusions into Tuesday's bus attack that killed 12 people near a Ukrainian military checkpoint in the eastern Donetsk Region.

The investigation included comprehensive analysis of two specific blast craters, including one located 98 feet (30 meters) from the side of the bus. The SMM asserted that all the examined craters were caused by rockets fired from the northeast.

Commenting on the results of the report, Russian Ambassador to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said they contradicted Kiev's claims that the bus had been hit by local militia from the east.

Kiev had previously claimed that the bus had been hit by rockets fired from the east, the direction of a town where local independence fighters had allegedly been present at the time. DPR authorities stressed they had not been involved in the attack.

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached by the warring sides in September 2014, reports of violations continue to emerge in eastern Ukraine.