"Following an SMM-facilitated, three-day period of relative calm, at 18.35hrs on 11 April, the SMM…heard a tank round being fired. It assessed it to have been fired from government-controlled territory approximately 500 metres from its position, and to have impacted in or around Shyrokyne," the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) said in a statement on its website.
The monitors said that 15 minutes after the tank round they heard a small arms and machine gun fire engagement.
"At 19.05hrs, the SMM in Mariupol heard what it assessed to be intermittent to heavy mortar fire in the Berdianske-Shyrokyne area, and saw flashes indicative of such fire from that area," the OSCE said.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is tasked with observing and reporting on the situation in the country's east, which has been a scene of violent fighting between Kiev troops and the region's independence supporters since April 2014.
The mission was deployed in March 2014 following the request by the Kiev government and with the consensus of all 57 OSCE participating states.
In February, the warring sides agreed to a ceasefire after the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany had worked out a peace deal in Minsk, Belarus. However, the opposing parties continued to report truce violations in the region.
