VIENNA, April 29. /TASS/. Members of the OSCE’s special monitoring mission (SMM) and militias of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic have come under a mortar attack near Lugansk, the OSCE SMM said in its "spot report" entitled Explosion and Small-Arms Fire Occur Close to SMM Near Molodizhne and Kruta Hora, Respectively.
According to the report (the quote below retains the spelling and style of the original - TASS), "On 28 April an SMM patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was positioned at an "LPR"-checkpoint approximately 1.5 km south-west of "LPR"-controlled Molodizhne (63 km north-west of Luhansk) speaking with an armed "LPR" member. At 12:17, the patrol members were proceeding to their vehicles to depart the area when the same "LPR" member began waving his hand at the SMM, indicating that the patrol should depart quickly. At 12:20, from inside their vehicles, the SMM heard an explosion assessed as an airburst about 50-100 m north-west. At the same time, the SMM saw a cloud of black smoke rising above the mentioned location; no impact was observed from the distance. The SMM could not assess the cause of the explosion. The SMM immediately left the area and returned safely to its base in "LPR"-controlled Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov, 50 km west of Luhansk).
"The same day, a separate SMM patrol consisting of five members and two armoured vehicles was positioned at an observation post about 50 m west of an "LPR" position located 1 km north-west of "LPR"-controlled Kruta Hora (16 km north-west of Luhansk). At about 10:35, while all SMM patrol members were outside of their vehicles, the patrol heard a shot of small-arms fire approximately 40-50 m south. The SMM could not determine the type of weapon or the direction in which it was fired. The SMM left the area immediately and returned safely to its base in Luhansk city."
On April 23, in the area of the Prishib village of the Slavyanoserbsk District of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic an OSCE SMM vehicle ran over an anti-tank mine. One members of the mission (a US citizen) was killed and two others (citizens of the Czech Republic and Germany) were injured. After that incident OSCE officials repeatedly called on the conflicting parties to ensure the SMM’s safety and avoid creating hindrances to its work.