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OSCE investigates civilian vehicle shelling in east Ukraine — militia

According to the DPR Defense Ministry, an anti-tank missile was fired from the Ukrainian army positions at a Tavria car with two Shirokino residents as it was leaving the settlement

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is investigating the instance of a civilian vehicle shelling by the Ukrainian military near the settlement of Shirokino in east Ukraine, spokesman for the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin said on Monday.

The vehicle was shelled by the Ukrainian army on Sunday.

"We discussed yesterday’s tragedy with OSCE representatives. They promised to thoroughly investigate the incident," the spokesman said in an interview with the Donetsk News Agency.

OSCE observers have arrived at the scene and are investigating the place of the vehicle’s shelling in Shirokino.

According to the DPR Defense Ministry, an anti-tank missile was fired from the Ukrainian army positions at a Tavria car with two Shirokino residents as it was leaving the settlement.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday the OSCE’s latest report on developments in east Ukraine was a cause for concern.

The OSCE observers said in their latest report that the neighborhood of Shirokino east of Mariupol had been massively shelled by the Ukrainian military on March 27. The monitors said the shelling began as soon as they left Shirokino. Self-defense fighters of the Donetsk Republic opened retaliatory fire, the observers said.

The German foreign minister said everything should be done to prevent a disruption of the ceasefire accords reached by the Ukrainian warring sides in February in Minsk.

The German foreign minister urged both the Ukrainian army and self-defense militia in east Ukraine to "follow the spirit and the letter of the Minsk accords and stop the shelling."

"It is not the first time that we were confronted with this during the crisis in Ukraine. If the process is halted, it will hardly be possible to avoid a new military escalation. We should consistently pursue the goal of continuing the political process," the German foreign minister said.

The ceasefire between the Ukrainian conflicting sides started from midnight on February 15. The ceasefire regime is stipulated in a package of measures for the implementation of the accords signed in Minsk on February 12.