The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns pro-Russian militants’ constant provocations, pressure and threats against OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission (SMM)’s observers in the temporarily occupied territories of certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. 

The last attack on the SMM observers patrol on June 20, 2017 in Yasynuvata city is cause for significant concern. According to the OSCE SMM Operational Report, militants armed with machine guns fired in the direction of OSCE patrol cars, attempted to enter the cars, threatened the observers with weapons, and smashed the glass of a car. 

We consider this assault an intensification of the behavior of the Russian Federation and the illegal armed groups’ that it controls. It is aimed at intimidating OSCE observers, restricting their access to uncontrolled territories, and obstructing the implementation of the SMM Mandate. 

We demand that Russia fulfill its obligations under international law and the Minsk accords, guarantee the security of and stop provocations against OSCE observers, and ensure full freedom of movement and unimpeded SMM access to the entire occupied territory in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, including the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border temporarily out of Ukrainian control.