OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Daily Report 166/2021 issued on 19 July 2021

Summary

• In Donetsk region, between the evenings of 16 and 18 July, the SMM recorded 608 ceasefire violations, including 64 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 286 ceasefire violations in the region.
• In Luhansk region, between the evenings of 16 and 18 July, the Mission recorded 133 ceasefire violations, including 21 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 53 ceasefire violations in the region.
• The SMM saw damage to an inhabited apartment in non-government-controlled in Zolote-5/Mykhailivka, Luhansk region and to five inhabited houses in government-controlled New York, Donetsk region.
• The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement areas near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. It recorded ceasefire violations inside the disengagement area near Zolote, as well as ceasefire violations near all three disengagement areas.
• The SMM facilitated and monitored adherence to localized ceasefires to enable the operation of critical civilian infrastructure.
• The Mission continued following up on the situation of civilians, including at three entry-exit checkpoints and four corresponding checkpoints of the armed formations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
• The Mission visited two border crossing points outside government control in Luhansk region.
• The Mission observed no change in the security situation in east and south-east Kherson region.
• The SMM monitored a gathering in Lviv commemorating Maidan-related events in 2014.
• The SMM’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted, including at a checkpoint of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Donetsk region. Two SMM cameras experienced visual interference, assessed as caused by beams of laser light, for about two hours. Its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) again experienced multiple instances of GPS signal interference.*