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Militia envoy: OSCE refused to register Yasinovataya shelling

According to a representative of the DPR operational command, the OSCE said the mission’s patrol teams run an increased risk in Yasinovataya, which is inadmissible

KIEV, August 25. /TASS/. Observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) have refused to travel to Yasinovataya to register the artillery bombardments by the Ukrainian armed forces, Eduard Basurin, a representative of the operational command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Thursday.

"On August 24, representatives of the Donetsk office of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission refused to travel to the Yasinovataya populated locality to register another instance of the use of weapons banned by the Minsk agreements by the Ukrainian armed forces," the Donetsk News Agency quotes him as saying.

According to Basurin, the OSCE said the mission’s patrol teams run an increased risk in Yasinovataya, which is inadmissible. "This is not the first time that the monitoring mission’s employees refuse to perform their duties. They cite the absence of the proper security level for the mission’s members, the shortage of patrol teams in the area or another rotation of SMM members among the reasons why OSCE patrol teams cannot arrive," Basurin said.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Yasinovataya area remains tense. The DPR command said on Wednesday evening that the Ukrainian army had pulled heavy weapons, armored vehicles and manpower to the demarcation line in this area. On August 24, the Ukrainian military shelled the area near Yasinovataya where Russian officers of the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination are located. One of the projectile fragments hit the observation post building.