MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is reporting two fatalities and two wounded, including a British journalist, in clashes in Ukraine’s southeast in the past 24 hours.
"Medical staff at a hospital in government-controlled Avdiivka (17km [10.5 miles] north of Donetsk) informed the SMM about two civilian fatalities and two other persons who had suffered shrapnel injuries," the SMM said in a Friday spot report.
The injured include a commander of the State Emergency Services of Ukraine and a British journalist, the SMM said, adding that "the commander was in critical condition, while the journalist had been transferred to a hospital in Dnipro for further care," according to Avdiivka medical staff.
The situation in southeastern Ukraine has escalated over the past few days, in particular near the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, where clashes between Kiev forces and the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have intensified. The conflicting parties have both accused each other of initiating the violence.
A spokesperson of DPR’s Office of Ombudsman said on Friday that over 30 people have been killed and more than 80 others, including 47 civilians, have been injured in the republic as a result of violence this year.
