Press briefing to present the results of the international monitoring mission to the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine

From 24 till 29 July, an international monitoring mission was undertaken to eastern Ukraine: in particular, to the areas affected by the hostilities and the settlements located at the contact line.* The experts from five countries participated in the mission: Mr. Kostyantyn Reutskyi, executive director of the сharitable foundation Vostok SOS (Ukraine), Ms. Yulia Krasilnykova, chair of the board of the Vostok SOS (Ukraine), Mr. Yevhen Vasyliev, coordinator of the Vostok SOS programs on monitoring and documenting human rights violations (Ukraine), Mr. Piotr Andrusieczko, a journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Mr. Ivar Dale, an expert of Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Norway), Mr. Andreas Umland, an expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future (Germany), and Mr. Grigorii Frolov, vice-president of the Free Russia Foundation (Russia).    

The goal of the mission was to analyse the security as well as the socio-economic situation in the armed conflict zone. In particular, to document the incidents of shelling of the settlements, to assess the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and to listen to the people’s perceptions of the local elections in Ukraine planned for 25 October 2020. Also, the mission participants monitored the areas of military disengagement and potential disengagement of forces in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and visited the entry-exit crossing points (EECPs). The mission participants were in the area of hostilities on 27 July, when a comprehensive and unlimited ceasefire was supposed to take effect, according to the agreement reached in Minsk on 22 July. They documented the violation of the ceasefire on its first day, when a local civilian man was injured.    

The mission participants will present their observations, conclusions and recommendations at a press briefing on Wednesday, 5 August 2020, 11:00-12:00, at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, Khreshchatyk Street, 2 (Ukrainian house), Kyiv. Live stream will be available at https://uacrisis.org/uk/. English translation will be provided.

For additional information and interviews please contact:

in Kyiv – Ms. Yulia Krasilnykova (+380965965786, [email protected]), in Berlin – Ms. Iryna Yakovlieva (+491635080028, [email protected] ).

International monitoring mission is a joint project of the German NGO DRA and Ukrainian charitable foundation Vostok SOS, with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This is the eighth monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine initiated by DRA. The themes and reports of the previous missions are available here.

* Almost 500km line between the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine and the territory occupied by the self-proclaimed ‘republics’ controlled by Russia.