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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Observers say "third side" provoking clashes near Donetsk airport

The airport remains the only hot spot at the line of contact in Donbas

© EPA/TASS/ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO

VIENNA, April 17. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) citing representatives of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) in Ukraine reports that unidentified groups were provoking clashes between Ukrainian military and militia fighters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) said on Friday in the daily report of April 16 placed on the organisation’s website.

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The airport remains the only hot spot at the line of contact in Donbas.

In particular, the SMM team members said they witnessed attempts of the JCCC representatives to organize three ceasefires but within a few minutes they were violated by "sporadic firing of mortars and machine guns."

"According to both Ukrainian Armed Forces and Russian Federation Armed Forces officers at the observation point, an unidentified ‘third party’ was provoking the two sides," says the OSCE report.

The mission said that only the fourth ceasefire agreed on that day was holding for a few hours.

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