Exactly one month has passed since the introduction of the Additional Measures for the Enhancement and Control of the Indefinite Ceasefire Regime (effective since July 21, 2019) signed by the parties, the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC reports. The past 30 days can be described as the calmest period for all six years of hostilities in Donbass. It suggests a positive trend concerning the safety of life among the civilian population: no one has been hurt by the enemy armed forces for the past 30 days.
However, despite some calmness, we cannot say that the stabilization of the situation at the line of contact is either unchallenged or comprehensive.
Monitors from the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC every day report cases when the armed forces of Ukraine violate the Additional Measures for the Enhancement and Control of the Indefinite Ceasefire Regime, in particular clause number 1, which prohibits offensive operations and the use of aircraft.
The AFU attempted to reshape their positioning 49 times by retrofitting the existing trenches and building new trenches and covers near populated localities: Novoluganskoye, Mayorsk, Pischevik, Starognatovka, Opytnoye, Troitskoye, Talakovka, Novomikhaylovka, Maryinka, Petrovskoye (in the territory of the disengagement area), Travnevoye, Zaytsevo (north area), Verkhnetoretskoye (upper area), Novgorodskoye and Lebedinskoye.
Particular activity in reshaping the interposition field was registered in the area of Shumy, where the opposing side intends to strengthen its presence under the arch of the Seversky Donets-Donbass water main. At this axis, monitors from the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC registered 12 cases of trenching, including the carrying-out of additional engineer preparation of ground, during the period from July 27 to August 27.
In addition, the OSCE SMM registered five cases of engineer preparation at the pilot area of the withdrawal of forces and weapons number 3 Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka, and also found a new cover that was built at the lapsed position of the armed forces of Ukraine within the disengagement area after the Additional Measures entered into force.
According to OSCE SMM reports, the AFU built up new trenches and extended pre-existing ones near Avdeyevka, Krasnogorovka, Maryinka, Svetlodarsk, Vodyanoye, Pischevik, Artyomovo (Ukr. Zalyzne), as well as in the area of International Airport Donetsk and the Petrovskoye — Bogdanovka disengagement area number 3.
In violation of clause number 1, the armed forces of Ukraine regularly use UAVs for the purpose of terrain reconnaissance. Thus, between July 27 and August 27, monitors from the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC registered 17 cases when unmanned aerial vehicles were used near Vodyanoe, Gnutovo, Chermalyk, Novoluganskoye, Talakovka, Zaytsevo, Shumy, Lebedinskoye and Shirokino.
Also, in violation of clause number 2 of the Additional Measures when it comes to the ban on appliance of fire, 19 ceasefire violations have been registered during this period, including eight violations on the Gorlovka front, six on the Donetsk front and five on the Mariupol front. The number of items of ammunition fired totaled 13. Mainly they used grenade machine guns and small arms.
We conclude that the number of ceasefire violations has significantly decreased in general. Moreover, weapons banned by the Minsk Agreements have not been used for 30 consecutive days for the first time during the conflict.
Also, during the period from July 27 to August 25, according to OSCE SMM reports, the AFU deployed 51 units of equipment and heavy weapons in disregard of the approved disengagement lines and outside designated storage sites.
We also note that our attempts to curb the AFU’s violations via the coordination mechanism, as provided for by clause number 4 of the Additional Measures, through all the established means of communication with the Ukrainian party to the JCCC, including the facilitatorship of the OSCE SMM, have not brought the expected results, because the AFU command ignores the facts of violations and does not admit them.
