Tensions escalate in conflict zone in eastern Ukraine after New Year holidays – OSCE SMM

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

DONETSK. Jan 19 (Interfax) – Members from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) have observed an escalation of tensions along the Donbas contact line in January after a relative lull in the period before the New Year holidays.

Things calmed down before New Year’s Eve, and tensions escalated after the holidays, OSCE Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug told the press on Tuesday. The observers have seen a relative escalation of tensions in the so-called hotbeds in the south of the Donetsk region, the Kominternove-Oktyabr-Pavlopil triangle, since the beginning of this year, he said. Tensions have also relatively grown in Zaytseve, in the Horlivka area.

The number of incidents, in which movement of OSCE observers was restricted and their activity was impeded, has increased lately, mostly in the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Hug said. The monitors observed 22 incidents in the period from January 5 to 11, including 20 in the territory uncontrolled by Ukraine, and two in the territory controlled by Kyiv. The Joint Center for Control and Coordination is investigating each of these incidents, Hug said.

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